Fate's Ripple

Chapter 4; Drawing the lines

In the two months since the Warlock had attempted to take Miranda Halliwell's soul there had been four more incidents. One a Wizard, two as Demons and another as a Wicca Witch corrupted by the Deviants after he used magic for evil. In most cases the Angels of Destiny warned them after a life vanished without prior warning and Harry was able to track down the wrongly taken soul and lead events naturally to kill the one working for the Deviant and allow the soul to pass on to the beyond.

In one case Death had intervened when a soul he was already collecting had been attacked by a Wizard and almost entrapped. Harry and Death were constantly on the lookout for anything suspicious and gone were the times of time jumps between collections, now whenever they didn't immediately have a soul to collect they monitored all death for anything out of place.

Harry was currently standing on the top of Mount Everest and he half watched as two men, heavily garbed with safety equipment, made their way towards him and to the highest point in the world. The Pull told him that the man on the right would fall to his death tomorrow evening on the way down the north ridge but he wasn't Harry's concern but Deaths. As if his thought had summoned him, said man appeared beside him and looked around him.

"I always have liked it up here." Death told him.

"With so few people around its easier to monitor deaths." Harry told him. "But the view is appreciated." From this height he could actually see the curvature of the earth.

"I've just witnessed the death of another of the Deviant's servants." Death told him.

"The seventh." Harry drew in a breath. "This Deviant is going to keep upping the number until we can no longer cope."

"We know." Death told him. "The Charmed Ones killed the last one. They were scrying for the same signature that was left on Miranda Halliwell after she was bonded to the servant. They managed to find a servant in Chicago when he tried to cast the spell."

"An interesting idea." Harry conceded. "I tried it myself."

"So have I, but the spell is designed to resist our power specifically." Death sighed. "Even so the Angels of Destiny agree that bringing in extra help may be beneficial to us."

"What do they mean?" Harry asked.

Death smirked at him.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

With the Wicca Witches most powerful members helping them albeit unintentionally, Harry went to the Wizards to garner their support. He didn't like having to use his fame in this way but he had to admit it was a good idea. They decided to target the new Minister of Magic since Harry could be sure that she would listen to what he had to say and had a personal position in this war even if she didn't know it yet.

Harry appeared in the centre of a study of a large manor in Devon and turned instantly to the thirty year old woman who used to be his best friend and sister. She was gazing out of the window at the sprawling countryside and this gave Harry a moment to look around the room even though she couldn't have seen him yet. A computer sat in one corner along with an electrical radio and fan. Obviously Hermione and Ron kept up a non-magical home. Harry hadn't expected Hermione to be able to cast away all of her roots even with her position as Minister for Magic.

Harry raised a hand and the fan kicked in even though it wasn't plugged into the wall. Hermione turned to stare at it in surprise and eyed the hanging plug sceptically. Still a Witch then if she wasn't scared of the poltergeist trick. "Ron!" She sighed as she rolled her eyes. She lifted her wand and flicked it in the general direction of the fan. Harry thought about resisting the counter spell but decided against it. He needed her to think he was a ghost and not a magical being of immense power.

The fan clicked off but Harry simply flicked his hand at the window and it slammed shut making her scream and jump around. She opened it again instantly with her wand but as soon as it was up the blinds shot down over the open hole blanketing the room in darkness. Harry pre-empted her need to have light and flicked on the light switch with his hand. A spell impacted next to the light switch but Harry was already across the room. He started turning picture frames on the mantle piece, partially surprised at how many she had of him in the room. By the end of his circuit of the room the only pictures left facing her had Harry Potter in them.

"Ron!" She screamed and cast a blanketing impedimenta that simply washed over him.

Harry killed the lights and concentrated on appearing to his scared friend. He appeared in the dim room with only the slatted lights coming through the blinds to illuminate his face. "Ron can't hear you, Hermione." He told her calmly.

"Who are you!?" She cried pointing her wand at him. "How did you get passed the guards and the wards?"

"Wards, magic, guards?" Harry smiled slightly. "They don't effect the dead, Hermione."

He knew he was being overly dramatic but the more scared she was the more she'd believe this had happened later on. He knew Hermione, if it could be explained away by science she would try, even if that science was a stress-induced hallucination. "Who are you!?" She demanded.

"It's only been twelve years, Hermione." Harry sighed before stepping towards her. Her wand shook so Harry stopped and the window blind shot up into its roller letting light bathe the room. "I know you can't have forgotten me already."

"Harry!" She choked her wand falling to the desk with a clatter and her hands came up to cover her nose and mouth as if she was about to throw up. "You were dead."

"Don't worry, Hermione. I still am." Harry smiled reassuringly before giving her a lopsided grin that he knew she hated. She'd once told him that it made him look like he was about to pounce on his prey like a cat.

She opened and shut her mouth a few times and Harry came to her rescue. "Right…proof." Harry brought up a hand in mock thought. He pulled on the bond and it responded with a flood of information from her late grandparents in the beyond. He decided to start a bit closer to home though. "The last thing I said to you was that I had to see where it was I had started before I faced where I might finish. I caught you and Ron in your first kiss when Ron was supposed to be on the look out for swamp lures." She didn't look convinced so he shrugged, she'd realise that only he could have known either of those things when she calmed down a bit. "Your grandmother Patricia wants me to tell you that she always has forgiven you for knocking all of her best china off of the tea tray when you were eight. Your grandfather wants me to remind you about the time you bit him on the side of his right kneecap when you were teething as a baby and also that he's glad you listened to his advice to find a nice red head to settle down with. Your other grandma…"

"Stop it!" Hermione all but screamed. "How do you know all of that?"

"You could say I've spoke to them. Dumbledore was right about the next great adventure." Harry told her and she went pale.

"You're a ghost, a ghost that looks like Harry." She stated as she collapsed into her chair.

"I am Harry, Hermione." Harry told her. "But I'm a spirit."

"What are you doing here?" She sobbed. Harry circled the desk and knelt beside her. She spun to face him.

"I came to warn you." Harry told her. "There's a new evil coming that will make Voldemort look like a primary school bully in comparison."

"Why would you care about the living?" She asked.

Harry felt his eyebrows rise at the interesting question, not one you'd expect at a time like this. "Because you are still living, so is Ron and your sons." Harry told her sincerely. "And because this evil is a danger beyond simple Wizardry, it wants to rule everything, magic, non-magic. Even heaven and hell."

Her eyes widened. "What is it?"

"It's a being older than Wizards and Witches, ancient powers trapped it in the deepest parts of hell but now its acting through living beings to try to escape." Harry sighed and glanced out of the window. "It's teaching servants to trap souls so that they can release it on the world. If that happens it will kill everything you love."

"Trapping souls?"

"You've already seen it once." Harry met her gaze. "Zacharias' soul was trapped by Paul Secomb until the Dementor released it. He's in the beyond now with the rest of us and he's happy. Please Hermione you can't let the Wizards sit aside on this one, everyone needs to be doing something. Find the ones like Paul Secomb and stop them all."

Determination filled her eyes and Harry thought that in some part of the Great Design Zacharias' death had been leading to this. She nodded at him. "Will I ever see him again? Will I ever see you again?"

"When it's your time, Hermione, you'll be able to spend every moment you want with everyone you want to. And you'll see me at least once more, maybe more." Harry promised her.

"Ron will never believe this." Hermione told him with a small chuckle that seemed close to hysterical to Harry.

"I think I should be able to think of something." Harry grinned as he reached for the Pull again.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Within days Hermione was using Penseive memories from her own son to back up the information she claimed to have found. She didn't try to persuade people that the spirit of Harry Potter had given her a 'celestial' warning of the upcoming evil even if some, especially those that had seen him block the Killing Curse aimed at Luke Weasley, would believe her. If anyone could do it, Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived could.

They were using Luke's recollection of the attack to train their Aurors to recognise the specially chanted spell and had declared use of the spell as worthy of a Capital punishment. So far it would only be Aurors that were permitted to shoot to kill when somebody attempted the spell but since the general population had been told what would happen to their souls if they were killed after the spell was cast it wouldn't be long before the public would shoot to kill too though they were being asked to simply stun.

Harry appeared in a familiar city, he'd been here an uncountable number of times before but the most memorable had been the death of the Ripple of Fate ten years ago. He was on another mission for the Angels of Destiny. They'd decided that something had to be done about the current Echo who they had watched be trained by the old Echo after he had lost his powers. Now that the Echo was soon to move to the city to confront the Ripple of Fate they had decided that Harry should be there to deal with things. With the Deviant's plots becoming more dangerous they couldn't afford the normal strife between the Ripple and the Echo to end in one of their deaths and the upsetting of the balance.

Harry didn't think that the Echo was stupid enough to actually work for the Deviant since he believed in righting destiny and there was no way that the Deviant could claim that that was one of his goals but it couldn't hurt to be cautious.

Harry walked into the nearest building, a morgue, and walked through a side door and down a corridor to the main examination room. A woman was fussing over a body lying on one of the table, presumably prepping it. Tru Davis glanced at him as he entered the room and frowned.

"I'm sorry, Sir." She said as she pulled at her gloves. "This area is off-limits. If you're here to identify a body could you please wait in the waiting room and I'll be with you as soon as possible."

"I'm here to see you actually." Harry told her as he leaned on the side wall. "You've changed a lot since the last time I saw you. You look a lot like your mother though I never saw her when she was twenty-five."

"Uh…you knew my mother?" Tru asked. "I'm really sorry, sir, but I shouldn't let you in here."

"You didn't let me in, I let myself in. Don't worry, nobody will mind." Harry told her with the same lopsided grin that had used against Hermione. Harry turned his head to look at the man on the table, he was dead but his soul refused to move on. It wasn't his time. "How did he die?"

"What?" She frowned before realising what he was talking about. "Uh…I'm not supposed to tell you that."

Harry looked back at her. "It's a shame nobody could stop it." He shrugged. "Maybe next time."

Harry's eyes darted to the body as it's head whipped around to Tru. "Help me!"

Harry felt the world lose focus and was dropped unceremoniously into the Ghostly realm. It was an automatic reaction to prevent Death from being affected by time jumps. He grinned before following the Pull through time and space to a café near to the morgue. He arrived only ten minutes before Tru would arrive and found the man he was looking for. He wanted her to realise that he was more than just a man otherwise she'd simply not believe him even if he started vanishing and so on.

He sat across the table from Harrison Davis who he hadn't seen since the youngest of the three children of Elise Davis had been fourteen. The last time he had seen him was when his father had kicked him and his eldest sister from the house. Harry knew that Harrison and his eldest sister had gone straight from there to their mothers house to find Tru crying over Elise's dead body. It wasn't a pleasant thing for the three to remember.

"Uh…do I know you?" Harrison asked him.

"I doubt it." Harry gave him that same lopsided smile. "I'm just here for the coffee."

"You didn't order anything." Harrison pointed out.

"I don't feel like coffee any more really." Harry shook his head and gestured vaguely about him.

"Why did you sit down then?" Harrison asked.

"You looked interesting." Harry told him truthfully.

"I'm confused." Harrison chuckled lightly not in the least bothered by Harry's presence. Harry's powers always made it easier for people to like him. His mysterious looks always made people curious about him and people were always attracted to the prospect of the Beyond whether they knew it or not. "Who are you?"

"My names Harry." Harry told him, he couldn't exactly say 'Hi, I'm death' after all.

"Harrison." Said man passed his hand over the table and Harry reached over and shook it. "Have we ever met before?"

"I don't think so." Harry admitted. "I'm not really from around here."

"Oh…" Harrison frowned thoughtfully. "I've lived here my whole life. I always thought I'd get out, move to somewhere new but then my mother died and my father disappeared and I couldn't bare the thought of leaving my older sisters."

"My parents died before I could remember them." Harry admitted warming up to the man. "It's been a long time."

Harrison smiled sadly at him. "Sometimes I think my father had something to do with it, the way he vanished even before he heard about her death."

"You don't like your father then?" Harry asked.

"I hate him." Harrison spat.

"Who do you hate?" Tru's voice sounded from behind Harry. She'd obviously walked into the café for her lunch date with her younger brother.

"Our father." Harrison told her.

"Er…sorry I asked." Tru shook her head before turning to take in Harry and by her shocked expression she hadn't looked at him properly thus far.

"This is Harry. We've been getting to know each other, right Harry?" Harrison introduced them. Harry nodded and flashed Tru his lopsided smile. "Harry, this is my big sister Tru."

"We've met." Tru said before shutting her mouth with a snap.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I've met you before." Harry frowned at her.

"Oh, maybe I was wrong." She stammered out.

"That's quite alright. I'd better get going. Maybe I'll see you both again." Harry stood and headed for the door. He vanished from sight along the way and found himself in his normal capacity standing over them both.

"What's wrong with you?" Harrison asked his older sister. "He was a really nice guy."

"Well you certainly hit it off quickly. I didn't know you were like that, Har." Tru retorted.

"It's not like that, he just…" Harrison frowned. "I don't know actually. I just felt like I could talk to him."

"Just like I felt like I didn't have to kick him out of the morgue this evening." Tru told him. So Harrison knew his sister was the Ripple of Fate.

"You're talking in different tenses again." Harrison rolled his eyes at him. "Is this a rewind day then? So, I've technically already talked to him then?"

"Technically no." Tru said like she always did. "Wait. That is the first time. I don't understand. He wasn't here when I arrived yesterday…er…today. You were sitting alone."

"And…?" Harrison asked. "I do sometimes have people to talk to."

"He's a stranger." Tru rolled her eyes at her younger brother. "I've never seen anything changed before on a rewind day before. Listen…I was studying the body of a young man who was supposedly hit by a car when he came into the morgue. Said something about being there to see me and that he knew mom. When I asked how he asked me how the man had died. I told him I couldn't say but he didn't seem to mind. He just said it was a shame nobody could stop it."

A look of dawning realisation crossed her face that worried her brother more than anything else she had just said. "What!?" He snapped after a few moments.

"He said 'Maybe next time'."

Harrison frowned. "And then what?"

"And then the man asked for help and I woke up this morning." Tru flicked a discarded and balled up receipt across the table in irritation. "Now I have two things to deal with."

"Two things?"

"I've got to save that man and all I have to go on is a car crash and his name." She sighed. "The thing is somehow that man you just met…Harry…knows that this is a rewind day, somehow."

"That's taking a bit of a leap isn't it?" Harrison frowned.

"He's the first person I've ever seen who has changed his actions on a rewind day without me doing anything." Tru told him.

"Maybe you did something different yesterday that stopped him from coming here." Harrison told her.

"That's a possibility." Harrison grinned happily at her as she conceded to his point. She spoke again and wiped the look from his face. "But that doesn't excuse away his words yesterday. Nobody says stuff like 'Maybe next time' unless they know about the rewind days."

"That's true." Harrison agreed. "Ok, here's how I see it. You have a name for the bloke you're supposed to save but there isn't anything to go on to find Harry. So I'm going to stick with you today in case he's a nut job and shows up again when you don't expect it."

Tru smiled at him gratefully. "Thank, Har."

"No problem," Harrison smiled at her. "Wait, I'm not going to miss out on anything good that I did yesterday am I?"

Tru just rolled her eyes and stood to begin the rest of the day of hunting for Charles Zanders and somehow work out a way to predict when he was going to step in front of one of the six million cars that would pass through this city today.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Harry didn't show up that evening like he had the day before. He watched Harrison and Tru battle the man rather unceremoniously out of harms way when his girlfriend, who Charles had just caught cheating on him, pushed him into the road in front of a car. He knew that not showing up would cause for greater comment than actually showing up and even though he was there they couldn't see him as the two grew frustrated.

He decided to approach Harrison three days later on the first of a day that he would force to rewind but he'd had to get special permission from the Angels of Destiny to do what he would have to do.

He walked into the Graveyard behind a crowd of well wishers. One of Harrison's friends had been killed the day before and Harry had taken his soul on to the Beyond himself even if the guy had been a little off the main track. His family was obviously well off and whatever problems had existed between the son and parents in life had evaporated with the son's death since the funeral wasn't a cheap one.

Harry stood off to the side in the shadows of a nearby tree. He couldn't hear what was being said but he was Death after all and didn't need to hear it. It wasn't until half way through the proceedings when Harrison looked up and saw Harry watching him and only him. Harrison glanced around him at the funeral before looking back at Harry only to find him gone. Harry appeared invisibly at his side, only a shadow lingering behind him to show that anything was there other than simple air. Only Harrison could have seen that though if he was attuned to Death. "After the Funeral I think you should go say hello to your mother. You haven't done that in a while." Harry whispered in his ear.

Harrison glanced over passed the tree and onwards to his mother's grave but didn't move until after the Funeral had broken up and people were leaving. Harrison silently walked the five minutes to his mother's grave and knelt in front of it.

"I find it interesting that the living talk to the ground rather than the sky when they talk to the dead." Harry spoke sending Harrison spinning around in fright.

"What the…?" Harrison cried. "Harry?"

"Hello, Harrison." Harry smiled his lopsided smile.

"I was just going to talk to my mother." Harrison told him as if Harry was there on purpose to interrupt.

"You don't have to be here to do that." Harry told him. "Your mother can watch you any time she wants." Harrison frowned at him but didn't deem to reply. "Do you believe in anything beyond death?"

"No." Harrison snapped.

"Really, what about your sister? I'm sure she does." Harry ignored Harrison's narrowed eyes. "If you don't believe in anything beyond dying how do you explain what your sister does?"

"She's a lab technician for a morgue. It really doesn't need explaining." Harrison told him.

"Ah." Harry grinned. "At least you're loyal to the Ripple of Fate."

"The what?" Harrison frowned.

"The Ripple of Fate. That's what the higher powers call people like your sister. People with the power to ride back through time to correct Destiny's mistakes." Harry told her. "I know all about your sister's extracurricular activities. Saving people who need saving but even she works for somebody."

"And who would that be?" Harrison asked sarcastically.

Harry laughed. "Do you believe in fate? In a person's destiny?"

"I believe everyone has to die at some point." Harrison told him honestly.

"That's right but do you believe that it's all set?" Harrison frowned but shrugged. Harry took a closing step and Harrison didn't retreat. "Everyone who is born has a time that they must die, to keep the Grand Design in order. A few are there to act as custodians of that path but there are always mistakes. Throughout time some vessels die before their time and people like your sister are here to put things right. Your sister is a tool you could say. An avatar to a great power that is vital in keeping the balance."

"That's all nonsense." Harrison told him bluntly.

"It's hard to believe but it's all true." Harry told him. "If you don't believe it then how else do you explain your sister's ability to ride back in time and how do bodies plead for her help?"

"I don't know. Neither does she." Harrison blurted before gasping.

Harry just gave him that lopsided smile again. "Don't worry, Harrison. I don't know many living people to tell that to." Harry grinned. "How about I throw you a bone?"

"What?" Harrison glared. "Like who you are?"

"All right then." Harry told Harrison bluntly. "I am Death. My job in the Grand Design is to ensure that people die when they are supposed to and that their souls don't linger in this plain."

"Huh?"

"I took your friend's soul yesterday when he was knifed during a drugs bust." Harry told him unrelentingly. "I was there the night your mother was murdered. I helped her pass on."

"You're lying!" Harrison was shaking now.

"Everything has a time and place, Harrison." Harry continued. "I know you wondered how it was that Tru survived such a brutal murder without a scratch on her. The answer is that she wasn't meant to die and it was me that stepped in to save her. I've spoken to her before. If she tried to remember that night she'd realise who I was."

"Then we'll just have to get her to remember." Harrison was still glaring at him.

"Sorry, Harrison, but everything in it's place and time. She cant know of me yet until the man sent to kill her arrives." Harrison's eyes widened and he didn't know that Harry was leading him to do exactly what he'd told him not to do.

"What!?" Harrison glared at him. "Don't you dare threaten my sister!"

Harry shook his head sadly. "You'll partly remember this conversation when the time comes. I'll need the proof you'll be able to provide and the hints that you'll give when needed but you wont have to remember the nasty details until much later."

"And how do you plan on doing that? Drug me?" Harrison glared.

"I'm going to force a rewind." The look of horror that passed across Harrison's face made Harry's lopsided grin appear on his face. "I'm going to upset Destiny."

"Why?" Harrison.

"Because things have to be handled carefully." Harry told him. "Your destiny has always been vital in the Grand Design but I have a feeling that it is more important now than even your sister's."

"You're going to kill innocent people!" Harrison spat at him.

"Not permanently. I won't do it again tomorrow." Harry shrugged just as Harrison lunged at him. His hands passed right through Harry as if he wasn't there and Harry sidestepped to remove Harrison's frozen arms from his body. "Until next time Harrison."

Harry vanished with the skull lingering effect and went straight to the morgue where he knew Tru and her boss Davies were working. Tru's phone rang and Harry smiled happily. Harrison was calling to tell Tru everything. Tru put it on speaker phone and sighed. "What is it Harrison?"

"It's that guy Harry!" Harry heard Harrison's slight panic and sighed. Next time he'd do it like he had with Hermione. "He say's he's going to kill people!"

"That's ridiculous. Why would he tell you?" Tru glanced at Davies sitting opposite her with a roll of her eyes.

"Shut up, Tru. This is serious. You know I don't believe in all that Destiny crap but he said you were working for Destiny without even knowing it!" Harrison's panicked voice seemed to have an effect on Tru's trust as she went slightly pale. "He say's you saw him when mom died. He said he was there!"

"Why would he tell you all of that?" Harry wasn't sure if it was shock or something else that was making her think of it all as truth without question but he was proud of her.

"He said I wouldn't remember after he forced a rewind." Harrison told her. "He's going to kill somebody and he's going to have to do it to somebody you're with to make sure it happens."

"Harrison, you have to get to safety!" Harry killed the phone connection with a sense of irony. He was happy that he'd said enough without revealing what he actually was. As far as she knew he was a human who knew a lot about Destiny. He began his tampering on everything nearby. The lights flickered, the fans running at the side of the room shut of with a low buzz as they wound down. The computers died.

"Oh god. It's not him!" Tru gasped. "Quick, Davies, you have to get out of here!"

"Wait, you believe some nut job is doing all of this?" Davies asked her. "Do you even remember if he was there when your mom was killed?"

"I don't remember anybody that was there that night!" Tru snapped. "Just get out of here before something bad happens to you!"

One of the fans fell from the table and Davies jumped ridiculously high in the air sending his computer monitor toppling onto the next table which sent a glass catapulting out through the office window and into an equipment hoist left outside that by maintenance. It spun around and hit one of the central supports to the room which dislodged from the ceiling.

"Jesus!" Davies swore.

"Just get out of here." Tru turned to stare at him and froze up as she saw a cloud of black lingering in the air behind him in a flickering light. She completely missed it as Davies scampered from the room into the other room. It wasn't until she breathed in that she smelt the gas escaping from the ruptured ceiling. She ran after her friend and shoved him out of the way of the fireball as it lit up against the flickering lights. Heat seared her but eventually she pulled her hands away from her head and found herself looking down into Davies' dead eyes. Her shove had made him trip and fall directly onto the end of the maintenance hauler.

"All in it's time and place." Harry told her though she didn't actually hear the words.

"Help Destiny!" Her head lurched this time as Davies' words sent her bolting up in her bed with a shocked cry.

"Oh god!" She gasped as she fell out of bed in her urge to call Davies and then her brother. Just to hear their voices. She didn't notice the lingering shadow that hovered in the light of her open window.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter