Killing for a God
"I want you to kill someone for me"
"You're insane." Harry said while getting the rest of his things together. Vim was hovering behind Harry as he walked out of the room. There was nothing this thing could do to convince him to use that notebook again.
"I haven't known any of my kind to go 'insane' as you say. It's not like I'm asking you to kill someone you know. I just was about to kill someone when I lost my DeathNote, and its been bugging me that I never got around to it."
"Well then I guess you'll just have to do your best to get me arrested. I'm a smart kid, even if Dudley tore up all my textbooks. The Dursleys loved keeping me at the library so they wouldn't have to deal with me for hours at a time. I'm sure I can find a way to make sure that a ghost that no one can see or hear but me fails to rat me out."
As they made their way back to the pub, Harry was all set to meet this new family he would be staying with, and wondered what it would be like. Of course he had seen other families at school functions, or read about them, but to actually live with one that wouldn't try to harm him (he hoped) would be completely new.
"Come on, you'd be doing me a huge favor here. I would look like such a fool in front of the other death gods if I let a human go."
"So gods of death tease each other? That doesn't seem right for some reason."
"You could just lend me a page. I promise I won't write your name on it." Vim said while holding up a hand in mock salute.
"Well now you're never getting this thing back. Have you ever had to lie before?"
"Not really. That's a low level offense in my world. Gambling is a big deal there. No cheating allowed."
They were just getting to the top of the stairs when Harry suddenly felt the floor fall out from under him. He crashed down the stairs and when the world stopped spinning he felt a terrible pain in his arm. All of Dumbledore's group rushed over to him to check on what had happened, and Dumbledore whipped out his wand and began running it over Harry.
"Thankfully nothing broken, but you have got to be more careful Harry. It's not everyday that you'll have me around to fix you up." As Dumbledore proceeded to say a string of what appeared to be magic spells, producing lights that filled Harry with warmth and killed his pain, Harry looked back up the stairs. Vim was floating there holding up the rug that had been under Harry's feet. He seethed with anger, and almost yelled out a swear at the shinigami, but kept his mind. He would have words for the creature later.
"Oh I'm so sorry Harry." Mrs. Weasley was cradling his head. "These things happen, but a big meal is always helpful for getting over an injury and a long day. Up we go, that's it. You're already looking better." Harry stood up and shook the dust off his clothes. The barkeep Tom was making a thousand apologies but Harry waved him off and said he was fine. The Weasleys, Shacklebolt, and Harry said their goodbyes to Dumbledore and Hagrid, and explained to Harry how to travel through the Floo Network. By now Harry was simply getting excited to see something so cool, and stepped through the green flames. Perhaps he'd have a few hours without the death god before it found the Weasley's house.
As he stepped through, he was confronted with a half dozen crackers exploding confetti all over him and a loud "Welcome to the Burrow, Harry!" In front of him were 6 red haired people of varying heights, 5 boys and 1 girl. The girl was very young, even younger than harry. There was one boy that looked around Harry's age, a pair of twins a little older, and two older boys that looked to be high school aged, one with a lot of scars, the other much more prim and proper. They all rushed him after he got his balance back, and they welcomed their mother and father into the house.
"So Harry," began Mr. Weasley, "let me introduce you to the Weasley clan. There's Ginny, and Ron. Fred and George, the twins. Percy, and Charlie. Sadly Bill has been stuck at work so he couldn't come home to see you, but I'm sure he'll want to come and meet you as soon as possible.
"Welcome to our home Harry Potter." The twins said in unison as they grabbed both of his hands. "So what was it like to kill You-Know-Who?"
"Fred and George Weasley!" Their mother shouted at them. "He does not want to be accosted with that the moment he comes into the house. Ron, show him to your room. You'll be sleeping there, Harry." The twins seemed to pout that their younger brother got the famous boy, but Ron seemed just embarrassed by the whole thing.
"This way." Ron mumbled leading him towards the stairs. The brothers all grabbed Harry's stuff and followed them up the stairs, straight up to the attic. As they climbed Harry saw that the house was full of wonderfully comforting things like fluffy chairs, food stores, candles, and homemade crafts, as well as 7 floors of rooms. It made sense for the incredibly large family to have such a big house, but it seemed impossibly structured, even from the inside, as there wasn't a single support beam in the house. Another oddity of magic I assume, thought Harry as they made it to Ron's, and Harry's, bedroom.
"Well this is it." Ron said a bit embarrassed by the drab room, but Harry didn't care.
"It's fantastic!" Harry said looking at all of the wizarding gear. There was a poster showing people on broomsticks flying around. Ron had set up a clay chess set on a table and the little pieces were wrestling or sword fighting with each other. He even had a small collection of records, but there wasn't a player in his room. "I just bought a record player this afternoon, so we can play some of those if you like."
"How did you afford one on your own?" Ron asked jealously. "They cost like 3 galleons! We only have the one in the living room."
"Is that a lot? No one really explained how much money people have here. There was just a lot in my vault."
Ron looked embarrassed at the assumption that his family was poor, and spent the next half hour going over his favorite record, a rather rough and loud band called Toil and Trouble. He really warmed up to Harry and seemed a lot happier now that Harry was staying in his room. Every once in a while there was a loud groan from the ghoul the Weasleys had in the attic, but they were mostly uninterrupted until dinner. Mrs. Weasley screamed up for everyone to come downstairs, and Harry was just about to step down when he felt the world spinning again. Tumbling down the second flight of stairs in one day, he felt a serious pain in his skull when he landed on the landing of the 5th floor.
The Weasleys rushed to his aid, propping him up and acting highly concerned. The twins made a big joke out of it, but as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had seen the first incident, they made a bigger fuss. Harry got his head together after a draft of some foul smelling drink was forced down his throat, and he saw Vim hovering over the group, smiling. That smile simply screamed, "How many times does this have to happen before you get the hint."
Harry made a quick excuse that he just wanted to get some fresh air, and left the Burrow to walk through the fields by twilight. Expecting this, Vim followed Harry, chuckling quietly. Thankfully Shacklebolt was giving Harry a bit of distance and stayed by the Burrow's front door, so Harry could whisper with Vim and not be noticed.
"So is this what's going on now Vim? You wanted this person dead so badly that you're willing to kill me?"
"Heh Heh. No, not kill you Harry. Never kill you. Only maim. Or…seriously injure. I would be killed if I ever killed another human without a DeathNote."
Harry thought about this as quick as he dared. He knew he couldn't take too long out of the house or the Weasleys would worry. And if he didn't do as this monster wished, he risked serious injury. He was worried he might have gotten a concussion from that last fall, and the next one might start breaking bones, or worse…
"So who is this person you want me to kill?"
Vim seemed very excited to hear that. "Oh so you'll actually do it! Oh this is great! I knew you could be reasoned with."
"I never said I would do it. I just wanted to know if I knew them or not."
"There's no way you'd know them. Their name is…" The shinigami thought about it for a second. "Oh yes, Lucius Malfoy." The shinigami pulled a small mirror like device from a pouch on her belt, and showed it to Harry. It showed a man in his late 30s, with silver–blond hair, and a sneering face. "I think he lives somewhere in England, but I'm not sure. It could be anywhere in Europe for all I know."
The act felt a lot more despicable now that he had seen the man's face. It was one thing to write a name down, but now he had a real human to connect to that name. "Why did you show me that. I don't want to know anything about this person." Harry was quickly realizing how he had essentially accepted his task of executioner before he saw that image.
"You need to know what a person looks like before you write their name in a DeathNote. Otherwise you would have killed every person with that name, and we can't have that happening, can we." Vim was glad to see things going as well as they were.
"Give me a day to think about this. I need to go into dinner now, or they'll expect something."
"Allright, but don't make me wait too long. I may just get," Vim made a slashing motion across her throat, "impatient."
Harry spent the evening and next day happier than he could have ever expected, but weighed down by what he would have to do to keep this up. Mr. Weasley was a very kind man who clearly loved all of his children, but was very obsessed with his work and asked Harry dozens of questions about muggle life. The twins were fun, but in a way that seemed to strengthen their connection to each other more than to others. Ron was a great person to have around, and Harry felt like he was making his first real friend. Percy never made much interest in him, but Charley treated him just like a little brother, and told him a lot of amazing stories about Dragon training in Romania, even offering to take Harry and Ron out there next summer if they were interested. Ginny was very embarrassed to be around the famous Harry Potter, but by lunchtime the next day she was getting used to having him around the house and spent as much time as she could around Harry, which annoyed Ron immensely.
"Why can't you just leave us alone Ginny. Go play with your dolls or whatever girls do."
"That's just what I'd expect from you Ronald Weasley. Sexist and self absorbed. Harry doesn't mind, does he?" She turned towards him and smiled widely.
"No I don't mind, I love being with everyone in your family."
"Even Percy?" Ron asked with a smirk.
"Well maybe not Percy." Harry admitted.
Ginny cut in saying, "Fred and George told me that they think Mum must have drunk a Potion of Never-Ending Boredom when she was pregnant with him." Harry and Ron had a good laugh about that, and Harry excused himself to go and talk to Vim.
"So you've decided to do it then?" Harry stared at the lizard like god of death. He was getting used to seeing this creature now, even after only a couple of days. He could stand his ground here and accept what had to be done. Anything was worth getting to stay safe in the wizarding world, especially just some random person he would never meet.
"You promise to let me live my life the way I want to if I do this for you? Just let me use or not use the note if I feel like it?"
"Absolutely. If I ever try anything fiendish again, it would only be at your command. I may be a bit scary, but I'm just a lazy ass most of the time. If you do this, I'll be able to just sleep and eat, and maybe chat a bit if you're interested. After all, I like learning about this wizarding world of yours. I'd prefer not to leave too soon now that I'm here." Vim seemed genuinely interested, and held out the mirror again so Harry could look on the face of the man he would kill.
Without another moment of introspection, Harry pulled the DeathNote from his robe pocket, quickly wrote in the name Lucius Malfoy, looked at the simple pen strokes for a moment, and closed the notebook.
"There, It's done."
"Not quite." Vim said, holding up a long finger. "It takes 40 seconds for a person to die. Because you didn't write any extra information, he will die from a heart attack in 3-2-1-0." The mirror went black at the count of 0, and Harry felt relieved that he wouldn't have to watch this man die. He left the now satisfied Shinigami an apple he had saved from lunch, and went back downstairs to spend more time with the Weasleys.
Over the next few days, Harry learned a lot about the wizarding world and Hogwarts. That there were 4 houses, and that all of the Weasleys had been in Gryffindor House. That there was over a million wizards and witches living in the UK and Ireland, and that the two muggle nations were united in the wizarding world. But the most interesting thing to Harry personally was that Voldemort was the same He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that Ollivander had mentioned. Over dinner one night, Harry had been talking about Dumbledore and brought up the story he had been told about Voldemort, and the entire table reacted like a bomb had been lit at the table.
"Don't use that name in this house!" Mrs. Weasley had yelled. The twins god a good laugh out of seeing their mother upset, but even they looked pale at hearing the name. Realizing that the man who killed his parents, and shared a wand core with his, still inspired this much fear in people was oddly scary, but he didn't feel the need to change his ways.
Harry casually mentioned one day that his 11th birthday was coming up in a week, and the entire household made it their business to make the event as huge as possible. Plans were made to visit Diagon Alley again the day before his Birthday to pick up everyone's schoolbooks, and to give everyone a chance to get Harry a present. Harry was humble, but was very happy to see how much his new family cared for him. All the joy in the house was heightened for the Weasleys, but was crushed for Harry, when Mr. Weasley came home clutching a newspaper and with a huge smile on his face.
"Fantastic news everyone! Gather round!" The family gathered in at the dining table to hear the news. "It has just come to light that a certain Mr. Malfoy of whom has been a constant annoyance to my department, died a few days ago." Harry's heart sunk, while the rest of the family tried to have their questions answered. Mr. Weasley pushed all of the questions away and explained.
"Now of course one shouldn't celebrate anyone's death, but Lucius Malfoy has finally been exposed." Mr. Weasley laid out the newspaper, displaying the headline Lucius Malfoy Dead and Exposed: Death Eater Connection Confirmed by St. Mungo's Healer. "After his heart attack, Malfoy's wife and son called in a healer to see if he'd been poisoned as fast as possible. The healer quickly surmised that he had died from strangely ordinary causes, and asked to investigate further to see what had been going on or what had been in his food. By pure chance, Malfoy had a decent amount of black magic devices simply lying about, and his family hadn't thought to put them away. Aurors were called, and after the past few days of investigations, documentation of his connection to You-Know-Who's supporters to this very day, and his widow is in custody at this very moment being questioned."
Harry was astounded at the news. Not only had the man he'd killed been a Wizard, he had been a supporter of the man who murdered his parents. After a few moments, he felt somewhat elated but disgusted, exactly like his discovery of his connection to the Dursley's deaths. Apparently Mr. Weasley had had a long feud with the Malfoy family over his pure blood supremacy and belittling of his work with muggles. There was a quick moment of silence before the excitement of the ongoing raid, and Mr. Weasley's chance to find anything connected to tampering with muggle artifacts in the home.
Harry wandered in a daze after the news. He confronted Vim and believed her when she said it was a freak coincidence. Stranger things have happened before… Now that Harry had killed another, he often felt the strange attraction to check the note and stare at the book. He didn't feel the compulsion to use it again, but simply the need to see it and make sure he wasn't dreaming. The night before they were to return to Diagon Alley, Harry was sitting in Ron and his room alone, looking at the note silently. He felt the need to scratch out the name written there, but knew that would do nothing. As he was about to put it away, Ron came into the room holding 2 letters.
"Hey Harry, we've got letters from Hogwarts. You better check this out. What is that you've got there? A Notebook?"