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Infinite Soul
Prologue
Lord Voldemort, once named Tom Riddle, had been a student of the London Sanctum in the 1940s before he'd disappeared. Some said he left jilted after being denied the rank of master, while others claimed he left to seek the secrets of immortality. It didn't matter much why he left. What mattered was that he'd returned armed with a powerful artifact and displayed a cruel eagerness to use it. It was an intricate hand piece. An armored gauntlet bearing the black skull of a stag upon its knuckles, and three spiked silver segments rising to the elbow. It was known as Hel's Gauntlet, and it was capable of materializing any instrument of death imaginable into the hand of its wearer.
Voldemort had attacked the London Sanctum for the first time a month ago. He'd done so with spears, and swords, and arrows, but his favorite instrument of death was a simple ball of sickly green light that needed barely to brush one's skin to cause immediate death.
On his first attack he'd been searching for two other artifacts, and had almost succeeded in acquiring them, killing a dozen students and three masters along the way, before he was thwarted. The artifacts had chosen other sorcerers to wield them, and refused to answer Voldemort's call.
Voldemort's second attack had come shortly after the first, however without the element of surprise, the Sanctum had been able to push him back with relative ease, losing only 5 students. Undeterred, Voldemort's third attack was subtler, and was not discovered until it was too late. He'd shrouded himself in a fog and slipped in to capture a single student. Severus Snape. The young man was interrogated, tortured, for the names of the two chosen sorcerers who'd thwarted Voldemort's efforts. This had occurred a mere two nights ago.
"Lily, it's him! Take Harry and go!" James Potter shouted, as he readied himself to face the coming threat. His was one of the names given up by Severus Snape to Voldemort as a sorcerer chosen by one of the artifacts.
The Cloak of Resurrection. It was a dark leathery shroud that shimmered with silver reflections and let off a trail of smoke as it swished in the breeze. It was said to grant the wearer immunity from all harm, including death. Immunity was perhaps too strong a word, but it had granted rapid healing to James during Voldemort's first attack. Tonight, it lay not upon James' shoulders, but protecting something far more precious.
Lily ran as her husband instructed, carrying with her their 5-year-old son, Harry. Wrapped around the boy was the cloak. Though the cloak had come to James, she hoped it would honor their wish to protect their son instead tonight. The other artifact of interest to the rogue sorcerer sat on her brow.
The Thesrtral Helm was a crown made of twisted antlers, with two distinct prongs rising from the temples. Named after the thestral, an enormous deerlike creature with wings that roamed the darker dimensions, it was said to render the wearer undetectable by sight or sound to anyone who hadn't known death. The interpretation of what exactly knowing death meant was up for debate, but so far it had worked against Voldemort.
She felt a mournful sigh whisper into her ear as she ran and knew at once that her husband was gone.
"Papa!" Harry whimpered, feeling his father's death same as she did.
She ran further into the depths of the Sanctum, finding the path deserted as planned. They'd prepared it for this eventuality, with the help of Master Dumbledore as soon as the couple had prevented Voldemort's acquisition of the artifacts. Though James wasn't meant to have been alone in facing Voldemort, she thought bitterly. Finally, Lily reached her destination. The veiled stone archway hidden deep within the London Sanctum had many names, Veil of Death chief among them. Lily stepped around the veil and crouched behind the stone arch, depositing her precious cargo. She then took the crown from her head and placed it carefully on her son's.
"Stay where you are, love. No matter what happens, don't come out. It'll all be okay. I promise." She told him, knowing she was lying to her son.
Stepping back around the veil she stood in the center of a meticulously carved geometric pattern on the floor. The spell carved in front of the veil was designed by Master Dumbledor. The intent behind it was to lure Voldemort in, and with a sacrifice, send him through the veil. Lily wove her hands in a delicate dance, glowing orange geometric shapes climbing up her arms until she flung her hands toward the floor. The geometric shapes collapsed into shackles at her wrists, and chains shot out of them to connect to the spell on the ground. Then the glowing chains disappeared from view, though Lily remained immobilized. She'd completed the spell just in time. Voldemort was here.
He stepped into the chamber, his footsteps echoing ominously around the cavernous walls. He stopped short of the spell circle and stood face to face with Lily.
"Lily Potter. Where are the Hallows?" He asked with feigned patience.
The Hallows. She guessed he meant the artifacts.
"You're too late. They've been sent through the veil already." She lied.
"Do you take me for a fool? I can feel them here still. Where have you hidden them?" He demanded, stepping to spells circle, and lifting her by the throat. She gasped, but did not defend herself. Her life was the cost of the spell, and to save her son she would willingly give it up.
"Mama!" She heard faintly, reverberating as if bouncing off a metallic surface, yet muffled as if passing through a velvet pillow. The crown was doing its job, hiding Harry from them, but thanks to James' recent passing they both knew and were keenly aware of death.
Suddenly Voldemort was knocked back, losing his grip on her throat. The vague outline of her little boy stood between her and her husband's murderer. And Voldemort was staring straight at him. Lily frantically tried the reach for Harry but the chains that shackled her to the spell held firm. She watched in horror as an ominous green glow began emanating from Voldemort's gauntlet.
"No! Move, Harry!" She shouted.
But it was for nothing, as a ball of green light left the rogue sorcerer's hand and collided with Harry diminutive form. His body was blown backwards into Lily's waiting arms, and she immediately checked him for a pulse. There was none. His blank stare became visible as the crown slipped from his head.
Lily let out a wail of despair, cradling her lost son in her arms.
She didn't have time to mourn though, as Voldemort began advancing on her again.
"Give me the Hallows." He demanded.
Lily shot him a murderous glare. She wrapped her son's body, along with the discarded crown, tightly in the cloak. Then in a single fluid motion, she swept the killer's leg out from under him and her precious package through the veil. There the artifact would be unreachable, even if Voldemort were to cross over himself.
"What have you done!" He screamed, rising back to his feet. She scowled at him, unable to muster the smugness she wanted to show him. His clenched fist showed the deathly green glow once more, and Lily was satisfied that she would be joining her husband and son momentarily. The light hit her and all was black.
Voldemort knew he'd made a mistake when the spell carved into the floor glowed a bring orange before chains flew out of it to wrap around him. He felt a tremendous pull as he was sucked in the direction of the dark stone archway. The chains held his body in place as, ever so slowly, his spirit was drawn out. With a burst of energy, his body crumpled to the floor as his soul was sent hurtling towards the veil with a haunting scream.
Its work finished, the spell subsided. The chains dissipating into nothing, and the bodies left lying within the circle.
Lily found herself standing ankle deep in a vast body of water that stretched as far as the eye could see. The sky was a dark twilight, without a cloud in sight. Floating in midair in front of her was a bright orange gem. She held her hand out to it, but it shifted out of reach. Then, in place of the stone was a man. He had long shaggy dark hair, a short, trimmed beard, and ice blue eyes that shown with sympathy.
"Your sacrifice is deemed worthy. Your wish shall be granted." He whispered.
She smiled gratefully, knowing that all would be well, and dissolved into glowing specks of dust to join the afterlife.
The twilight waterscape faded to reveal a gloomier, murky atmosphere. Dark clouds rumbled overhead, covering the sky in a roiling tempest. Ash and coal dust seemed to linger in the stale air, hanging as if suspected by string, swaying and flaring in a weak breeze.
A veiled stone archway, identical to the one hidden within the London Sanctum, stood like a monument in the center of the desolate wasteland that was Niflheim. The shaggy haired man crouched beside the pale bundled body of Harry Potter. The cloak wrapped tightly around the child, like it was embracing him. It fluttered lightly, then more vigorously, not under the power of the ever present breeze but under its own power. The wind it generated ruffled the boy's hair, revealing a rapidly scarring lightning bolt shaped cut on his forehead. Suddenly the boy gasped, color returned to his cheeks, and his bright green eyes shot open to observe the world around him.
His eyes fell on the man crouched over him.
"Hello Harry." The man greeted, reaching a hand toward him. Harry recoiled away.
"Where's my mama?" He asked desperately, though the tears welling in his eyes showed he suspected her ill fate.
"I'm afraid it's just us now, Harry." The man lamented, then he gave the boy a gentle smile, his hand still outstretched.
"My name is Sirius Black, but if you prefer you can call me Padfoot." He told Harry, before transforming into a large shaggy black dog. He bowed his head between his front paws and wagged his tail in a friendly gesture.
The child giggled through his tears and reached out to pet the dog's head.
"Hi Padfoot." He said, feeling safe for the first time that night. His parents were gone, he was stuck in a dusty wasteland, but at least he wasn't alone.
Note: Thanks for reading. I thought about how I might handle a Harry Potter x Avengers crossover, and this popped into my head so I wrote it out. I might write a couple more chapters later but I don't have much of a story fleshed out. We'll see what happens.