Chapter 15- With the Eyes of a God

The task force had one last meeting before the end of the term. The situation with Malfoy had scuttled some of their plans, but there was still much to discuss. Harry was taking to his new eyes well. He had quickly realized that he couldn't turn off the power, but the words and numbers were unobtrusive enough that it didn't make a big difference in his sight. The inevitability of everyone's deaths was constantly apparent as he walked around the school, but he started to notice that every once in awhile he could see someone with a death date that was far earlier than normal, such as a 7th year who was destined to die in about 5 years. Harry arrived late to the task force meeting, and so when he walked into the room all of the dates were listed before him.

Ronald Weasley: 10/20/2029

Cho Chang: 3/5/2084

George Weasley: 5/15/2064

Fred Weasley: 7/1/1994

Lee Jordan: 1/2/2066

Emily Greengrass: 12/25/2001

Julius Flume: 10/29/2020

The disturbing closeness of Fred's death hit Harry like a punch to the gut. Most of his friends were set up very well, but Fred and Emily and even Ron were destined to live less than 40 years. Everyone welcomed Harry with a Christmas cheer, and handed him some food and drink stolen from the feast. Harry tried to put these new thoughts out of his head, but keeping a smile on was getting harder and harder every time Fred looked his way.

Julius led the meeting by clapping a large tome down on the desk. "So this is the only source that I could find on the nature of protection from memory charms happening naturally." He flipped to a mostly moth eaten page that was near the center of the book. "I had to spend all of the past two weeks going through different sections, and I only managed to find this one because Professor Pince was mending it while we worked in class."

On the page he had turned to was an illustration of a bearded man who was lying down. He was laid serenely beneath a tree with several leaves falling down around him. On the right page was a handwritten document that began with the title: The life and death of King Arthur.

"The King Arthur?" Harry realized suddenly what was going on. He had heard people saying 'Merlin's Beard' as a curse all over the place, without realizing what this all meant. "The sword in the stone and merlin and Camelot and all of that?"

"Who else would it be? Now, in this book, it says that the King's conception by magical means imbued him with certain magical properties, which were only strengthened by the powers of his magical scabbard. These included being immune to any physical wound, and protection from any magical spells that could affect the mind including those inciting wickedness or forgetfulness. So, Harry, any reason to think you and the big guy are related?"

"What? No way!"

"I suppose not, but I had to ask. It's such a cool idea though. The history about his guy is so confusing after all. Well, back to the drawing board I guess." Julius slunk back, bringing his book back to another desk. It was sad that Julius had to keep searching after Harry had received the answer from Vim, but that was the trouble with having a DeathNote. After the conversation earlier. Vim had mentioned the clause in the rules that the person who gave up ownership of the death note lost all memory of the note. They deduced that until he gave up the note, the reverse was also true, and that any memory tied to the time holding the DeathNote was protected.

"My turn!" Said Ron, excited to be able to add to the conversation. "So I went to the library,"

"And didn't burst into flames?" George mentioned.

"Ha ha. Anyway, I was searching around for whatever could be behind the door on the 3rd floor. I remembered that you had said that there was some dog behind the door. And I read for about 3 days and came up with nothing."

"Wah wah." Mocked Lee.

"Shut it. So, I thought the only reasonable course of action was to just go check it out. And you all won't believe what's back there." Ron paused for effect. "A three headed giant dog!"

"Now you're just making things up." Said Lee.

"Am not!" And Ron whipped out a small book he had taken from the library. "After I narrowly avoided being chomped by the beast, I went back to find out what it could have been. And look here. He went up to Harry and showed him a picture of a three headed dog creature with the word Κέρβερος. The entire page was covered in a script that Harry had never seen before.

"You actually saw this thing?!" Asked Harry.

"Yes I did!" Ron seemed incredibly proud of himself. "Sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I really wanted to see all of your faces when I told you.

"So Dumbledore's got some massive beast locked up in this school?" Emily grabbed the book. "This entire thing is in Greek. Anyone here read Greek?" No one answered. "Well, it was worth a shot."

"Look at that. Ravenclaw Ron's got some bravery in him somewhere." Fred gave his little brother a pat on the back and smiled.

"Well, that's good news isn't it. That means Quirrel is being held off by a giant monster for now." Cho said. "Emily, before we lose track, what did you find out about the Philosopher's stone?"

"Ooh, yes! Let's talk about this. So I found an old book that I had checked out weeks ago," Emily also pulled out a large book. "And look who's mentioned in it." She opened up to a page detailing a man named Nicolas Flamel. It showed a picture of a smiling young man holding a small red stone no larger than a lump of coal in his palm. "That's the mysterious Philosopher's stone."

"So wait, who is this guy?"

"Nicholas Flamel is an Alchemist. He was born in Italy in the 14th century, and he's been using that stone he created to stay young the entire time. It says here he is the only man alive who has a stone."

"So is this our perp? Is he trying to get the stone back, or is Dumbledore protecting it from someone else? Or maybe Dumbledore is really Flamel in disguise!" Lee was putting on the old conspiracy cap for this brain storm.

"Um, let's put that theory on the backburner for now."

"So how does that help us?" Asked Cho.

"Well, it means we have a confirmed source. Now what we really need is a motive."

"Isn't living forever a good enough motive?"

"Yes, but why Quirrel and why now?" Julius stepped up and began questioning the group. "Why is a Hogwarts teacher snooping around the stone, and why is it here now. Is it to stop someone else? What changed this school year." The group thought for a moment before looking at Harry.

"You think the stone's here because of me?"

"Well what else could it be?" Asked Lee. "Know any dark wizards out there looking to steal a magic stone?"

"Well there are the death eaters. Voldemort's gone, but there are a bunch still on the loose. " The entire group twinged. It looked as if someone had scratched across thirty chalkboards at once.

"Don't say the name!" Moaned Ron, while he looked warily around the room.

"Whatever. So for some unknown reason, maybe me, maybe the death eaters on the loose, the school has hidden a philosopher's stone. Cho, I think we need a new checklist. Too much has happened this month." The group talked it over for the next hour, with random additions here and there, and after several scratched out ideas, and a few additions made by Lee and the twins, they ended with this list.

Continue Monitoring Quirrel. (If he goes near the third floor, we spring into action.)

Find a way for Harry to avoid Dementors. (He claims he just doesn't want to "fall unconscious", but a man should revel in the title "Dementor Slayer")

Continue to watch out for any Ministry action against Harry. (Not Heir of Slytherin, but clearly still the most dangerous 11 year old alive)

Ask Hermione and Marietta what happened to them as soon as they arrive at the Castle. (see if we need a new task list after this)

Death Eaters? (No Ideas? Anyone? Come on, we can't just leave this to the Ministry, can we? Harry needs to go home eventually?)

They all wished each other a merry Christmas, and all but Harry and the Weasleys left for home. Before bed, Harry knew he would have to talk to Ron about his newfound ability. He was too far deep, and this affected him too personally.

"Ron, there's something that I need to tell you."

"What is it Harry?"

"I learned something new about the DeathNote today."

"What happened? You didn't…. use it for anything, right?" Ron looked like he was still joking, but there was a trace of concern.

"No, but I found out there's another power Vim could give me."

"Like what?"

"I can see everyone's name, and when they're going to die. Vim can do this naturally, but now I have the eyes of a Shinigami too." Ron looked at Harry.

"I wish you had told me what you were going to do before you made this deal."

"I did it to protect my friends. This way I'll always be able to know if something dangerous is coming, and who it is that's trying to hurt us."

"But in exchange for what? Don't go telling me that thing gave you this for free."

"I let it kill some people."

"You what!"

"Just people we needed gone, Ron. You know how long I've thought about how to deal with these death eaters? These people are living on the edge until the ministry can capture them anyway, Vim needs to kill people to stay alive, and it might as well be the people who worked to kill my parents." Harry lifted the notebook and showed Ron the six names he had told Vim to write down.

Alecto Carrow

Amycus Carrow

Edward Nott

Henry Multox

Walden Macnair

Cosmo Antonescu

The words were written in the same weird handwriting with lengthy letters. Ron stared at the words. And grabbed the DeathNote out of Harry's hands.

"What are you doing."

"Taking this thing to Dumbledore."

"You can't do that Ron!" Harry leaped at his friend to take the notebook back. He punched and screamed, but the taller boy was too much for him.

"I trusted you Harry! I believed that you understood what this thing meant, and that you weren't going to let that thing trick you!"

"Ron, you don't understand! If I didn't do this then we wouldn't be able to do something to save your brother! He's going to die!"

The fighting stopped, and the note had been thrown into a corner of the empty bedroom. They both were huffing thickly, and harry noticed he had a cut on his hand where Ron had hit him with a fingernail while they wrestled. Vim decided to pop in at this time, and see what was making the racket.

" Fighting about something?" She smiled widely. Vim looked to have a major spring in her wing flaps.

"Get out of here!" Screamed Ron. "What the hell are you talking about Harry?"

"I told you, I can see when people are going to die now. Fred only has 6 years to live."

"How does that even make sense? Are you suddenly a seer now? Can you make prophecies that always come true or something?"

"I told you I just got this! I have no idea, but we have to do something! I understand why you're angry. I told you I would never use the DeathNote again, even if it was just letting Vim have it for a day. But I weighed the options, and look what we have now. A chance to save his life!"

"Is that even possible? Didn't you say this was destined?"

"Explain it to us Vim. Stop with all of the vagueness. We have a deal now. Honor it."

"All right, if you insist." The Shinigami brought out the mirror that she had used to show Harry the face of Lucius Malfoy all those months ago. Now, she cast a glamour on it to show Ron a face of a woman with the same ethereal numbers Harry could see over Ron's head right now.

"This is what I see above every humans head. I know your name, and I know how much time you have left on this world. When I write someone's name in the DeathNote, I take the rest of your life for myself. Think of it as me absorbing your soul, like those Dementors at the gates, but more out of necessity and duty. Now that I've made a contract with Harry, he can see the same thing. These numbers only can change when a shinigami or a human writes a name in the DeathNote. If no one dies that could have impacted that human's life, those numbers won't change. Your numbers have actually gone up a lot since Harry and I have killed so many of these Death Eaters." Harry became more alert at that.

"Wait, what was it before, and what's it now?" Ron was suddenly getting invested.

"You used to be destined to die in 1998, now you're slated for 2029. That could change again if some other death god decides to kill someone close to you. But it doesn't change that often. Being close to a human with a DeathNote will make it far more likely to change than another person's."

"So there's a way to save Fred's life?"

"Yes Ron." Harry returned to the dialogue. "We'll just need to watch out for anything that happens over the next three years. You know I love everyone in your family, and I want to protect them." The two boys sat quietly now, contemplating what they had to do now. Ron eventually got up and grabbed the DeathNote and handed it back to Harry.

"Here. I won't say I agree with this. But at least I understand a little bit now. But we're telling Hermione and Cho about this as soon as they come back. I'm not going to be your only confidant about these killings anymore. If you're working to protect your friends, you can at least tell us the truth." Harry nodded.

"We all need some sleep I think. Let's talk about this more tomorrow." They climbed back in bed before Ron mentioned one last thought.

"So what's your number say Harry?" Harry hadn't thought about that yet. He got up and walked to the mirror, but all he saw floating above his head was his name.

"What's up with this Vim?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. A human who owns a DeathNote doesn't have a determined date of death anymore. You become so wrapped up in death, that no one knows how or when you'll die." Harry would never be sure if that feeling was comforting, or disturbing.