Rebirth II
They had fainted after the information overload. All the revelations were too much for her brain. Lily is still young, only twenty-one and the same could be said for her husband, James. Her return from consciousness was announced with a loud groan and the twitching of her eyebrows. "She woke up, Harry." Lily heard a woman's voice. Her eyes fluttered and slowly they adjusted to the light. "Do you think that we need to inform Frankenstein to let him know that the cooks can start preparing an early lunch?"
"My parents have been out for a while and getting some food might help them. Tell Frankenstein that I like the main dining hall to be prepared." She heard the voice of her son. Her eyes, which had adjusted to the light and could now see clearly again. Looking left and then right, she searched for her son. Lily sees her daughter-in-law, who looked like she was in her late teens and having been gifted with a sizable bust that just couldn't be natural. 'What was her name again?' The question spooked her mind. 'Something like Levi...Levia….Levia-tan? What kind of name is that and how did my son meet her?'
Next to Lily, James came back too and muttered. "Who is Frankenstein?"
"Frankenstein and his sister, Alice, were orphans that survived the pyromaniac attack on their orphanage. Harry rescued them when he was in London and took them under his wing. Frankenstein grew into a wonderful and brilliant young man and knows a lot about the arcane and science. He is also your son's loyal servant, bordering on obsession. His sister, Alice, has the gift of foresight and has joined the Olympic Coven, nomadic and vegetarian vampires. She switches between staying here with us or with her coven." The first voice, which belongs to the girl with the spiky ponytail and wearing a police uniform that didn't hide any of her curves. "My name is Seras Victoria, your son's Daughter or Fledgling and I too am a Nosferatu."
"D...Dau...Daughter!" Lily stammered out.
Seras shyly swayed her body as she cupped her face with her hands. "Kind of, your son rescued me from an evil vampire that terrorized London. That vampire was a young one, a few centuries old according to Harry. You might have heard about that vampire, he did go by the name of Jack the Ripper."
Lily was stumped. Her son had rescued this girl from the infamous serial killer that terrorized London. "Jack the Ripper was a vampire?"
"Indeed he was. His victims were mostly women because he liked the taste of their blood. Jack grabbed me when I was on a patrol with my partner in the police force. Harry told me how he found my partner and through him he learned about me. Instead of going to the police, your son rescued me." Seras told a little of her story in how she met her friend. The girl was still confused about what category she should place Harry in. In the friend category, a parental figure, or perhaps something more. For now, she let those thoughts slide, she still has eternity to see if there was more to her feelings for him.
"How do you still look so young when you are that much older than us!" Crowded James and he got immediately slapped by his wife on the head after he finished his sentence.
Lily frowned at her man and grabbed his ear. "Let us follow Seras to the dining hall and you will at the same time think about your choice of words." Chastised the red-haired woman. She followed Seras who had turned around and led them out of the room.
Harry chuckled at his father's loose tongue and he looped his arms with that of Serafall. She leaned closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder, together the couple followed the newly resurrected devils. "Your father is amusing, my love. I can imagine how much of a headache he was for his professors at that school of yours."
"My father will be less of a headache with my mum here to rein him in when his impulse becomes too much," Harry replied as they followed the group.
Harry and Serafall, chuckled in amusement when James pointed out the few paintings that decorated the long corridors. Just like the Witch and Wizards paintings, these too moved around in their frame. "Is this a joke because I see a single man standing against a huge army, with many pointed weapons pointed at him."
"Ah," Serafall exclaimed with a bright smile. "This is the battle of Thermopylae, or at least the early state before the alliance of the Greek city-states came together. The Persians were held off by the Huntresses of Artemis. Artemis maidens sniped them with their arrows, thinning the army. However, Xerxes just like them were blessed by the gods that they follow. His men managed to close the distance and the maidens were forced to retreat." Lily and James watched how the Huntresses of Artemis retreated to the small path that would chokehold the invaders. Almost all of them managed to get through the small path until one of them was hit by an arrow in her leg.
In the painting, they watched how the small group of Huntresses tried to return to their fallen comrade. Only for a stranger to appear in front of the Huntress and kill the first soldier, cleaving him in two with his blade. One became two, and two turned into four and then the numbers started to go up. The man stood like an iron wall between the massive army and the Huntress. "Your son appeared on the battlefield and like a messenger of death, everyone that met the sharpness of his blade was sent to the Ferry Man in the Underworld."
Harry's parents couldn't believe the story, nor the images that were played in front of them. Again, it was Lily who managed to reboot her mind and she blurted out. "But that battle happened in 480 BC! You lived through that war!" She shouted hysterically.
"I did, mother." Harry's reply was short and to the point. "You might not believe by the way I look, but my age is something you would have difficulty believing." He gently grasped his mother's shoulder and guided her away from the painting. James followed and together they resumed their way through the long hallway. On the right side of the long corridor, tall windows that were decorated with lead and colorful glass panels that formed pictures gave a beautiful outside view. Harry noticed his father taking a chance to look outside the window and he froze.
"By Merlin's shaggy beard! The sky is purple mixed with pink and black, blending together perfectly!" Exclaimed James in surprise. "This is not Earth!"
Serafall chuckled and cheerfully said. "James and Lily, welcome to the Underworld! In reality, you are in a different dimension that is linked to the dimension of Terra. You might know Terra under a different name, namely Earth, a name that is given by the Biblical God from whom the human has adopted."
James and Lily stared up in amazement at the unfamiliar sky. It suddenly dawned upon them that their life had changed completely. For Lily, this was a second time, the first was when she discovered that she was a witch. This time she had become a Devil and again stepped a foot into a new world. As for James, this was a first, and yet, somehow he couldn't help but feel at home.
"I expected you to jump out of your skin, James." The voice of his best friend could be heard. "But your reaction at the sky was close enough." Chuckled Sirius, who seems to return to the man who he has once been before the whole clusterfuck before the war. "You can ask us any question when we are having lunch."
This time Sirius led them, pushing James forward and towards a door that swept open, revealing a large dining room and an equally large table where twenty men could sit around. Harry's father noticed a tall, handsome blonde man waiting for them next to the table. "I welcome you to your first meal as Devils, James and Lily Potter, my name is Frankenstein and the lunch is ready for you." The tall handsome man pulled out a chair and Sirius pushed his friend on the seat. This progress was repeated with Lily and before anyone knew. The whole group was seated around the dining table, filling up their plates with the food the cooks had prepared.
"Can we ask any questions?" Lily said as she took her seat next to her husband.
Harry nodded and waved his hand in the air. A magical circle appeared above his hand and a translucent sphere grew and enveloped them till they reached the walls. "Anything you want to know, I try to answer, and if not then I do have my reasons for them. Before you ask what I just did, I erected a privacy ward around us to protect the information that might be addressed. But first, I like to have an oath that nothing will be spoken outside of the privacy dome and only I, the secret keeper, can allow others to talk about it."
"Why do you want us to swear an oath. Aren't we family?" James said and the confusion could be seen on his face.
"We are a family, James, however, you can never be careful enough. I traveled through time and if someone manages to kill the younger me from this timeline then something terrible might happen." Harry told his father. "If something happens now to me, everything I have done would have a huge impact on the future. I wouldn't be there in the past and you two wouldn't have gained a second chance upon life."
Lily nodded her head and with an understanding expression, she spoke the oath. After her, James followed and then the others followed. "Everyone, thank you for your trust, especially my parents. My friends and my wife already knew and we strengthened our bonds together. Now that everything is protected, you cannot even utter a word about this nor can anyone read this information in your mind without my permission."
James the ever impulsive man started with the first question. "I would like to know why you resurrected us? From what I understand, you have never met us and that you only have heard about us from Sirius. And I have no foggiest idea of how old you are, but haven't you forgotten about us if you lived for so long?"
"That is a long story, father. I'll only give a small summary of my life and we can sit together sometimes to learn more about each other. My reason I never forgot you started when I was exposed to the Mirror of Erised, which was better known as the Mirror of Desire." Everyone finished his bite or stopped eating altogether when Harry started. "The Mirror of Erised is a magical mirror that brings forth the 'deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts.' And my deepest desire was family, a place to belong to and be loved, which the Dursleys didn't provide me when I was in their care." Upon hearing her sister's family and the implications made Lily's green eyes darker at the thoughts. "Albus once told me that love was the most powerful magic of all. And he was right because I always remembered my heart's desire when I saw people together who formed a family, a group of friends of camaraderie or when Sirius told me about you when we lived through the centuries."
Lily had tears in her eyes when she heard her son. "You haven't forgotten us. Did you desire us that much?"
"I do, mother. This is still a wish from my heart to reunite together, however, the time has changed us, Sirius and I. We've lived more than a double of your lifetime and we have become old. I can't be the son you want in your arms and cuddle with, telling that sweet little boy that everything will be alright. I matured through the ages and despite that, I wanted you back into my life, but for a different reason." Here the immortal got a wide arrange of strange looks from his friends, his wife and parents. "Let me explain because I can read the questions on your face. Twenty-one year is very short, especially for mortals. You grew up as children, then you spent time at Hogwarts and then that weak dark lord appeared to off me, yet you two sacrificed yourself for me. This made me think through the long time I lived. I dived into magic unheard of, which was later called dark because the magic and the creatures that came forth from them were terrifying. I didn't know how to cast the Avada Kedavra curse and so I reinvented the curse that stole my parents from me. Why I did this is because I wanted to learn how this spell worked and if I could find a counter curse. By knowing the Killing curse, I could craft a revert spell that did the opposite, creating life. I half succeeded at the time, giving birth to the Inferi which my late student Herpo made later more advanced."
"Did you really invent those dark magic?" Lily softly said with disbelief.
Harry nodded solemnly. "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, literally."
His mother sighed and sought comfort from her husband, James who draped an arm around her shoulder and pulled Lily to his chest. "Please continue your story, son."
"Herpo learned only about my desire to bring death back to life and he experimented with the Inferi. We discovered that the Inferi have no souls and we thought that if we gave them souls, they would function like normal living creatures. How mistaken we were as we gave birth to another hellish creature...the Dementors. Flying Inferi who took a liking to the taste of souls." His parents were shocked at this discovery and couldn't help the grim look they adopted when they thought of the proverb. "I left the Inferi and Dementors after the creation failed once again and left all the work to Herpo who goes down the annals of History as Herpo the Foul the Dark Necromancer."
"What was Herpo's stake in all this, why did he help you?" Lily asked from the comfort of James' embrace.
"Herpo wanted to bring back his sister who died from an illness. He found the faith of his sister, who was sexually abused till death by Hercules and his men. Herpo lay down the blame at Zeus's feet, demanding justice for his sister. My student and friend never got justice from Zeus nor did he succeed with our project. Herpo sought me out after many years and handed over his work before he joined his sister in Elysium and with his passing, he left a dark legacy behind." There was a moment of silence after the discovery that the man that is known to be dark actually had noble intentions. What else was different than what the History books describe the people that were judged wrongly. "My friend, Herpo, had reunited with his sister and I was left with his research. Many years later, I heard rumors about a new Pantheon rising and the war they brought to the doorsteps of many other factions. A bloody war has erupted from the three branches that the Biblical Faction consists, on one side we have Yahweh and his Angels, fighting against the Satans and the Devils, and fighting against both sides were the Angels that has fallen, or also known as the Fallen Angels as they fell for their sin. It's almost two thousand years ago that the Biblical God, Yahweh, and the Four Satans fell in battle. A bloody civil war erupted in the Underworld, there was at one side the Devils that wanted to stop the war and wanted to have peace, on the other side we had the Devils who were led by the descendants of the Satans. That war was won by the New Satan Factions, led by Sirzechs Gremory, Serafall Sitri, Falbium Glasya-Labolas and the man who actually succeeded where I failed, Ajuka Astaroth, who is the inventor of the Evil Pieces that restores the life of the death and turn them into Devils. As you can guess, my wife, Serafall Leviathan, used her pieces to resurrect the two of you."
The eyes of James widened for a fraction upon hearing the name of his son's wife. This means that this girl is the one that had resurrected them. Harry's father smiled at her and gave out his thanks. "We are in your debt for giving us this second chance at life, Lady Serafall Sitri."
Serafall giggled and grabbed Harry's free arm. "You're welcome and this is what families do for each other, isn't that right, my father-in-law?" Her smile widened when she noticed that James blushed. "But for a moment of seriousness and not you," she gave Sirius a pointed look and a small white-blue magical circle appeared beneath the Grim-animagus's seat. "Let me give you a lesson in Devil's culture. Many of my kind will do anything to get what they want. We are a race that lets our emotions control us most of the time. Since the Evil Pieces came into our life, we have become collectors of the rarest and powerful pieces. Some Devils will organize an accident. For example, they let you die and then resurrect you without any thoughts about your well-being. Others make contracts: The Devil gets your corporation while you become a Devil under his care. My beloved husband made a deal with me, I proposed for him to become the Queen of my peerage," James and Sirius chuckled upon hearing that the man in the relationship became the Queen. "I married him and in the eyes of many Devils, we are equals, however, reality is different. Many of my people believe that they should rule the new Devils, however, my husband put a stop to this."
"What do you mean?" Lily voiced out curiously.
"To understand, I will explain the hierarchy of Devil's society. Your new society is built up out of the Old Devil Houses and the Peerages." A pyramid appeared in the air, made out of ice. "Peerage has to do with where you were born and raised. But you can also rise up in peerage by performance. For example through doing contracts or fighting in tournaments. The House of Sitri is given the rank of duke. We have the Low-Class Devils, these are new Devils that were recruited through the Evil Pieces." The bottom of the pyramid flared up green.
"Then we are Low-Class Devils?" James commented with a frown while staring at the green section of the pyramid.
"Usually you will be a Low-Class Devils, however, your circumstances are special, but I will address that later. We have the Mid Class Devils, they have the rank of Knight or Dame, above them are the Baronet and Baroness ranks." The section above the green flared up yellow. Which was then followed by a blue one. "Then we do have the Top Class Devils with the following rank. Baron and Baroness, followed by the Viscount and Viscountess, Count and Countless, Margrave and Margravine and then the Marquis." And finally, we have the tip that flared up red. "Then the last section is the Ultimate Class Devils which has the following ranks. Prince and Princess, Duke, ArchDuke, Great King, and Demon Lord." James suddenly shivered when noticing that Serafall was grinning rather feral. "Those are the ranks that people in a peerage system can reach, with the exception of the Ultimate class ranks. I hope that I didn't bombard you with too much information!" Serafall cheered out.
Harry's parents shook their heads, waiting for more news. "What you might not know," she bonked her head cutely. "Of course you didn't know it yet, but there are two ranks above the Ultimate class ranks. Namely, the Four Satans, rulers of the Underworld and the last one has no name to the rank as only one person held that position."
"I'm almost afraid to ask, but what rank is the House of Sitri?" Lily asked curiously.
Harry chuckled while Serafall prepared herself to share the information that everyone already knew, except the new members. "The House of Sitri is a Duke class and we are pretty important. About my own class, my name is Serafall Leviathan….currently one of the four Satans and ruler of the Underworld."
Harry's parents were floored and couldn't believe that the small girl in her late teens was actually one of the rulers of the Underworld. Lily immediately apologized for her rudeness and James was just mostly speechless, until Sirius slapped him on the head. "Don't let Serafall cuteness fool you, James. She is one of the most dangerous and powerful women in the Underworld, however, she and her fellow Satans pale in comparison with the one above them in rank. Guess who you think held this position?" Here Sirius pointedly looked at the young man who was seated at the opposite side of where his parents were around the table.
"Don't tell me that..." James was this day many a time speechless, however, his best friend decided to finish his sentence with a beaming smile.
"I can finish your thoughts if you like, but I say it nevertheless...your son, my own boy, is the bloody person who held the position above even the Satans. The Nosferatu is a rank that is impossible to reach and perhaps only our little Seras might have a chance to reach the same level as her sirer." James's brain shortcuts and like a puppet whose string was cut, Lily's husband fell unconsciously with his face onto his plate of food.
Lily on the other hand just let out a tired sigh and rubbed the side of her head, trying to hold off the headache that threatened to come out. "I could have guessed after all the revelations we had today. Why didn't this surprise me?"
Serafall and Harry just smiled at the scene, watching their new peerage members and they shared a passionate kiss. "After lunch, you need to train your parents till they can stand on their own two legs without any worry. Maybe Frankenstein likes to give a hand in their training." Harry just chuckled and again pecked her lips with emotions full of love.
My apologies if this felt more like an information dump, but I liked to give James and Lily the chance to learn about their new start of life. In the next chapter, we'll stay in the Underworld and a little about Terra.
I hoped you all liked this chapter and until next time.