A/N: Thanks for the reviews I have received! I am hoping for many more to come! Hopefully this will help me get back into the swing of things! As always, I don't own Harry Potter or The Tales of Beedle the Bard. However, I do own copies of them.

Cadmus left around the same time Antioch did but with a different destination in mind. He was headed for the home he had intended to share with Sophia. He hadn't stepped foot in the place since she had died but he couldn't bring himself to sell it either. Before he left for the estate, he told his son, Geoffrey, to help his Uncle Ignotus with the cows. Upon arriving at the estate, Cadmus waited quite some time before actually entering.

It wasn't a very big house, it only had three rooms, but he and Sophia had had so many grand plans for the place. He sat heavily on the only chair in the front room. He took a deep breath and pulled the stone out of his pocket. He stared at it, running his fingers over the smooth surface. Then he turned it once, twice…

"Sir, where would you like your things?" his manservant asked poking his head in the door. Cadmus jumped and quickly stuck the stone back in his pocket.

"You can just leave it in the hall. I will take care of it. Once it is all inside you may head back to the farm," Cadmus said fiddling nervously with his pocket. The manservant stared at him in concern.

"Are you certain you do not want me to…"

"No! I mean, no, it is fine. I am fine. I can handle being alone for a few days. My brother has more need of you than I do."

"As you wish, Sir," the manservant bowed and left through the open front door. Twenty minutes later, Cadmus watched as he took the horse and cart back down the dirt road back to the farm. He sighed in relief. He looked down at his pocket and slowly pulled the stone out. He took a deep breath and spun it once…twice…three times. He looked around expectantly. Nothing, the room was empty except for him and his luggage. He sighed dejectedly, hanging his head.

"It looks just as I remember it," a soft, lilting voice said. Cadmus' head snapped up and he spun around. There she stood in the dress she had been wearing the day she had died. Her hair was down and the dress was wrinkled but she looked healthier than she had in a long time. She was opaque and Cadmus could see the room through her but he didn't care. His Sophia was with him again.

"Sophia," he said reaching for her. She took a step back.

"You cannot touch me," she said sadly. "I am not really here, Cadmus. You pulled me from the realm of the dead. I am nothing more than a ghost. We can speak but that is all. Is that enough?"

"Anything is better than you not being here at all," Cadmus said as tears shone in his eyes. Sophia smiled.

"Good, you should get your things put away. We have a lot of catching up to do."

Cadmus smiled and thought I can control death now. I need never lose anyone again. Take that Death!

The two laughed loudly as Cadmus planted flowers in the little garden in front of the cottage. It had been three days since Sophia had returned to the world of the living. She listened with rapt attention to every word Cadmus said just like she had before her death. She had very little to say about where she came from. She could not remember very much of it. What she did know was that she had not been unhappy.

"Perhaps heaven is real and that is where I was," she had said when he asked her about it.

"I am happy to hear that our son has made a name for himself. I am also pleased to hear your family was so supportive. My only regret is that I could not be there to watch him grow. Is Geoffrey as handsome as you?" Sophia asked with a large grin on her face.

"Even more so, the ladies of the village cannot get enough of him," Cadmus chuckled. Sophia giggled. Cadmus had not been this happy in a very long time. He had missed Sophia's giggle and her smile and everything. He kept wondering how he had kept going without her.

"Have any of the ladies caught Geoffrey's eye?" Sophia asked kneeling beside Cadmus on the tilled earth.

"Not that I am aware of but he is a young adult. He probably would not tell me unless it was serious," Cadmus said planting a few seeds before covering them up with the soft soil. Sophia giggled again.

"I wish I could kiss you," Cadmus said looking up at her. Sophia's smile faltered a bit.

"Me too," she whispered.

A month had passed before Cadmus got the news of his older brother. Antioch was dead, slit throat in the middle of the night. Cadmus sat in his chair, a depression settling over him as he thought about Antioch. Sophia stood by the window looking at new shoots in the garden.

"I warned him!" Cadmus shouted shooting up out his chair and startling Sophia. He paced the room with her watching him. "I warned him not to tell anyone and the idiot went and boasted to every drunk in Wales! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he shouted kicking the chair repeatedly as tears fell down his face.

"Cadmus, stop!" Sophia said hurrying to his side. She placed her hands on him and flinched away. Her hands were ice cold. He stared at her through bloodshot eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself self-consciously.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's okay," Cadmus sniffled.

"I'm sorry about your brother," Sophia said. "Perhaps he went to heaven like I did."

Cadmus snorted. "I doubt it; his pride would certainly send him to hell if it exists."

"I am just trying to help," Sophia said in a hurt voice. Cadmus sighed and rubbed his nose.

"I know, I'm sorry,"

"You should attend his funeral," Sophia said gently. "You need closer."

Cadmus nodded and then looked up at her. "What about you?"

"I can come. Only you can see me," Sophia said.

"I must get ready for travel then," Cadmus said standing and clearing his tears.

The funeral was short and sweet. When the funeral party broke up and went to mingle, Ignotus walked over to Cadmus who had been standing a little way's off by himself. It had looked like he was talking to himself. Ignotus touched his shoulder to get his attention. Cadmus jumped.

"Are you all right, Cadmus?" Ignotus asked. "You look awfully pale."

"I am fine, apart from my brother being dead, everything is splendid," Cadmus said a nervous edge to his voice. Ignotus raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Well, I best be off, so much to do at the cottage and very little time to do it in," Cadmus said turning away. Ignotus caught his arm.

"We have not seen you in weeks! You promised you would still come and help out around the farm but you do not even look like you have left your house in days! Something is wrong, Cadmus, just tell me so I can help you!"

The concern in Ignotus' eyes made Cadmus feel incredibly uncomfortable. Sophia smiled wanly at him. Truth be told, Sophia had been on edge since they had left the cottage and it had put him on edge.

"Nothing is the matter, Ignotus; I am just busy with fixing up the cottage. I will help with the farm after I have finished there, I promise. I just need some time to mourn Antioch, we all do."

Cadmus wrapped his cloak tighter around him and hurried to his carriage. He was halfway up the road before anyone noticed he was gone. Ignotus shook his head. He had a very bad feeling that this was the last time he was going to see his brother alive.

As the weeks went on, Sophia became more and more agitated. She floated around the cottage listlessly. This put Cadmus on edge and about a month after the funeral he snapped.

"Sophia, for the love of all things magic, why will you not stay still!?" he roared from his chair, slamming his book on the table beside it. Sophia jumped.

"Sorry, I just feel-wrong-I can hear someone calling me," she said softly.

"Who?" Cadmus asked feeling suddenly tense.

"I do not know," Sophia said sadly. "The voice is so familiar and yet so very unfamiliar. It is very distant and quiet too."

"What are they saying?" Cadmus asked feeling a cold sweat forming on his face.

"Just Sophia, always Sophia," she said looking longingly outside. The leaves had started to change colors.

Cadmus could help but feel very nervous about what Sophia had said. Could it be…? No, he had not shown his sorry face since he and his brothers had defeated him. Yet Sophia was of his realm. She was not truly alive, though not truly dead anymore either.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Sophia sighed heavily watching the breeze play through the yellow leaves. He shook himself. He was being silly. Sophia just needed a distraction.

"Shall we go for a walk?" he asked standing up.

"No, I do not much feel like a walk," Sophia said morosely.

"You have been looking out that window all day sighing," Cadmus said irritably.

"No I have not; I have been deep in thought. I was looking at nothing in particular," Sophia said.

"How about a story then?" Cadmus asked picking up the parchment book he had thrown down earlier.

"No thank you," Sophia said. Cadmus huffed.

"You are being intentionally unhelpful. You have been nothing but a nuisance for days with your listless movements and your heavy sighs. It is like you do not want to be here! What do you want from me!" Cadmus yelled. Sophia's opaque eyes filled with opaque tears and her hands flew to her mouth.

Cadmus felt his heart clench. He had never yelled at her before. "Sophia, I am so sorry," he said kneeling by her but she stood abruptly.

"No, you are right," Sophia said as tears spilled down her face. I do not want to be here. I do not belong here. I feel so very out of place. I look and around and everything is so alive, you are so alive, and I am not. I cannot touch you, or kiss you, or help you with the household chores. I watch you sleep because I have no need, I long to eat the foods you eat every day. I cannot take it anymore!"

Cadmus could have kicked himself. He had been so selfish, so happy to have his Sophia back that he had not stopped to think about how all of this affected her.

"Sophia, I had no idea this hurt you so much!" he said sincerely.

"I know but I did not want to tell you for fear of hurting you again," Sophia said.

"This was not fair of me to do to you. I do not want you to suffer. I love you too much to do that to you. So I am going to let you go," Cadmus said pulling the Stone out of his pocket. He had not let it leave his person since Sophia had appeared. Something had told him it was how Sophia stayed with him.

"You would do that for me?" Sophia asked.

"I would die for you, Sophia," Cadmus said. "I love you."

"I love you too," Sophia said. "Good-bye Darling,"

"Good-bye," Cadmus said and he dropped the Stone. The moment it hit the floor she vanished. Cadmus fell to his knees and sobbed. It was late afternoon when he finally got up. He walked outside to the shed and found a wooden stool and some rope. He tied the rope to the rafters in the shed and then tied a loop on the other end. He carved a short message in the wall climbed on the stool. He placed the loop around his neck.

"I am coming, Sophia," he said before kicking the stool out from under his feet. He had imagined suffocating to be painful but he never expected it to be this bad. Something in his neck snapped and sent a searing pain through his back. He gasped for air, his hands grabbing at the rope even though he knew it was pointless and that he didn't want to live. His feet flailed below him and he began to see bubbles of color in his vision. It was long before he blacked out.

When he opened his eyes he was still in the shed. He blinked and took a step forward. It hadn't worked. He was still here. He glanced down; the rope was no longer around his neck. He turned around and yelled out, nearly falling over at the grotesque sight before him. His body was dangling from the rafters. Blood dribbled from his mouth and his eyes were almost comically bulging from his head. His skin had a strange hue to it and he looked incredibly stiff.

"So we meet again, Cadmus," a deep voice said. Cadmus jumped again when he realized there was a dark figure standing behind his body. It was Death.

"I do not understand," Cadmus said weakly.

"Thou took thine own life what is there to not understand? In thine grief thou made a rash decision and now thou belongs to me. Come, Cadmus, thine heart awaits thee." Death opened a bright portal and began to walk through it.

"I beg your pardon?" Cadmus asked. Death stopped in his tracks.

"Thou dost not belong in this world. Come, thou must join the ranks of the dead," Death started back into the portal. Cadmus took one last look at his body before hurrying after Death. He had to find Sophia.

And so Death took the second brother for his own.