Author's Note:
Really want to thank you again for the encouraging reviews and glad that Mikhail went over well. I took a little bit of a writing break after the holidays and hope 2018 is a little more productive than 2017 was for making progress on my stories.
Here is my disclaimer that says I do not own anything Harry Potter related. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, except in universe 47837. Probably.
Whatever method of travel that Mikhail had employed felt awfully similar, in Harry's opinion, to his experience with Portkeys. Except that it had none of the unfortunate side effects usually that left Harry struggling to remain on his feet once they reached their destination.
To him, it was just like closing his eyes in one place and opening them in another with his feet firmly and comfortably remaining on the ground.
"Welcome to the Land of the Dead," Mikhail announced with grandeur.
The more experienced Angel of Death was still holding onto Harry's hand and looking back at Harry with a smirk on his face.
Harry's eyes, meanwhile, were busy searching his surroundings, and for a moment he felt that Mikhail was playing a trick on him.
"It's a parking garage that doesn't seem to have any cars," he stated bluntly.
Harry was confused and Mikhail squeezed his hand and then turned to Harry and smiled.
"That it is but it's also where all souls reappear when they die. Here, look over there," Mikhail then pointed.
Harry shifted his stance and saw that the seemingly endless expanse of the parking garage existed for a very good reason. For in the distance Harry could make out the longest line that he had ever seen. Tens of thousands of people made up of different ages and different ethnicities were standing one behind the other in a line that stretched farther than even Harry's advanced eyesight could see.
And yet if he focused on any one of them he inexplicably knew intimate details about their lives: whom they had loved, lost, and in some cases killed, just came to his mind automatically. It was quite alarming to be honest.
"It's weird isn't it? Seeing what their lives were like… in time you won't even think twice about it and will be thankful that the knowledge is just there for you to see should you need it."
Harry twisted his head to face Mikhail, absorbing what the attractive man had just said while wondering why his mind wasn't hit with the same details about Mikhail's life.
Mikhail must have noticed the change in Harry's disposition – or just remembered what had been going through his own mind when he had been in this position – for the older Angel soon gave an answer.
"I'm not dead yet Harry, and neither are you. So instead of knowing my life you are only aware of how long I may or may not have remaining – which is not quite like what you will see in others mind you. In both of our cases, our hourglasses represent the indeterminate amount of time that we have left. We can get into the specifics later but for now let's focus on these people."
Mikhail directed Harry's attention back to the line.
"They are waiting for judgment," explained Mikhail.
"Come, I'll show you… but first I think we need to change your appearance."
Mikhail's lip curled up in amusement and his eyes flicked from Harry's feet all the way up to the top of his head. Again, Harry felt his cheeks flush red but he didn't have all that long to think about it because just then Mikhail snapped his fingers.
Suddenly Harry found that he was wearing a very sharp suit that hugged his body perfectly and reminded him of those immaculately dressed and insanely wealthy Muggles that Vernon had always tried to emulate but never quite succeeded in getting anywhere close to.
"Now," Mikhail mused as he used his fingers to straighten Harry's tie, "we just need to teach you how to put your wings away."
Harry did his best to focus on what the other boy had said but Mikhail had also changed his attire to match Harry's, and Harry's mind was preoccupied with tracing the outline of the man's torso with his eyes.
"Harry, focus!" Mikhail grinned. Even though he was used to the looks he was still pleased with how Harry responded to him.
"You need to put your wings away. It makes the new souls nervous and Death has a very specific dress code that he would like us to follow when we are in the office."
"Oh.. uh.. okay then. How do I do that exactly?"
Grey eyes met green ones and it was obvious that both were enjoying each other's company despite the quite unusual circumstances.
"Just think about putting them away, folding them back into your body where they can rest. And then when you need them again just think about the reverse and them coming out of your body to beat powerfully against the wind."
Harry closed his eyes for the second attempt. Looking at Mikhail was too distracting to put in a solid effort for his first go around. Only, once Harry began to focus on his wings he found that he didn't really want to put them away; they felt too comfortable, too right where they were. But he focused anyways on drawing them into his body like Mikhail had instructed and felt the very moment that they began to shift.
Like changing clothes or traveling here from the In-between, the transformation was instantaneous and thankfully not painful like their appearance had been. One minute he had wings and the next he simply did not.
Harry opened his eyes to find Mikhail's face only a foot away and with a very big smile on his face.
"Very good, Harry!"
Mikhail's rich and praiseful voice washed over him, making his knees weak again.
"Come, I think we're ready for the next part of our tour."
Before Harry could ready his mind, Mikhail had turned and was tugging on Harry's hand to follow him.
Harry thought the continued physical contact might have been weird in most other situations but he was finding that all rules seemed to go out the window where Mikhail was concerned. Besides, it was a nice change of pace for Harry and with everything quite literally changing around him he just decided to go with whatever easy comfort being in Mikhail's presence seemed to provide. Just like his decision to come through the Veil, this too felt right.
On the way to the front of the line the other Angel of Death pointed out some of the features of what he called the basement level of the Land of the Dead.
"Death likes the idea of making a soul's first contact with the other side being something familiar yet non-threatening. It changes for certain cultures that are more rural but a parking garage is an innocuous place for most these days. As you can see," Mikhail pointed with his free hand behind them while leading Harry closer and closer to the front, "the newly deceased enter way back there and wait for their judgment over here. The Judger of Souls," Mikhail indicated with a nod of his head towards a most-appropriate looking and stoic individual with a rather large and dreadful book open before him, "will decide what type of eternity awaits the newly dead. He – or she depending on the shift – will weigh the person's deeds against various objects to find something that evens out."
Harry looked on with great fascination as he witnessed several of these weighing ceremonies proceed one right after the other. Apparently, a series of balls of varying shades between black and white were used. It didn't take a genius to determine what balls meant which fate awaited a person, though Harry was curious why so many shades existed.
It didn't seem to be a Heaven or Hell situation.
"Why are their so many choices to be weighed against?" Harry whispered to Mikhail as they paused to watch a few more.
"Very few people are either completely and irrevocably good or evil; thus, most exist in varying degrees between them. To be fair, people are given an eternal life that match one of seven descriptions as to how they behaved in the mortal world."
"So what does one have to do to qualify for either the really bad or the really good place?"
They kept whispering now that they were near the front of the line and a few of the closer souls kept looking at them suspiciously because they were outside of the line that the newly dead were waiting in.
"It varies from person to person since there are always extenuating circumstances but anything dealing with genocide, withholding universal healthcare, crimes against humanity, or believing in trickle down economics is about as close to pure evil as one can be."
"So what awaits those people?" Harry asked, knowing full well where Uncle Vernon was going to end up. The man had abused him too much over the years and had a habit of spouting off racist diatribes against the children of immigrants demanding that they return to their shithole countries. In Harry's mind the man had done many things to justify him being equal to a black ball, and Aunt Petunia wasn't far behind him.
"Come, I'll show you," Mikhail tugged at Harry's hand again, bringing him back to the present.
The other boy led them past the front of the line where the judgments took place. Behind the scale used to weigh the souls against how bad or good they were there was a divide in which to the left was an elevator that the newly judged souls took and to the right was one for Death's employees.
Harry thought the sign, 'Employees Only,' was hilarious while at the same time wondering if the employees lived elsewhere and commuted to work.
"Just how many people work for Death?" Harry asked instead as Mikhail pressed the up button.
"A few thousand, give or take. There are only a few of us – about ten or so – but things have gotten so bureaucratic lately that Death has needed to hire people solely to deal with the paperwork."
"Paperwork?" Harry turned his head questioningly while they stepped in and turned around in time to see the door close.
"Why is there paperwork?"
Mikhail sighed. It was clear this was the part of the job that he did not like.
"I'll go through everything with you but some of the notices you will have to file include flight plans, submitting reimbursement requests, keeping accurate records of time of death, and so much more. It is quite annoying actually and with the increased number of litigious individuals crossing over we have had to make sure that none have been taken before their time in case they are able to convince the Judge that they didn't have all the time allotted to change their eternal destination.
"Don't worry, Harry," Mikhail squeezed his hand reassuringly, "I'll make sure you are trained well and are capable before going off on your own."
Harry just shook his head; he hated paperwork and that was far easier to think about than the little twist his stomach had made at the thought of not always having Mikhail with him. Which was ridiculous given how short a time they had known each other.
"I'll admit it's a pain, but all in all it's not that bad," Mikhail began.
"And I'll be there every step of the way, okay?"
Mikhail smiled at him; he was finding that there was something so easy about being around Harry. None of the other Angels were like this boy; granted, six of them were women and the other males were about as exciting as cold toast.
But still, Mikhail hadn't had this much fun since Death and him had cleaned up after the war with Grindelwald.
"You promise?"
Harry then gave Mikhail a strange look; like he wanted to believe the other boy but that he had been let down too many times to really trust someone else. Hadn't that been one of the reasons that he was in this situation in the first place?
It was a look that Mikhail had seen from time to time in his own reflection before Death had chosen him.
Quickly Mikhail pushed the stop button on the elevator and turned to face Harry properly.
"I realize how much I keep throwing at you and I totally understand how unsettling all of this can be at first. However," Mikhail's eyes pierced through Harry's, "you will not have to go through this alone, okay? I will be there as much or as little as you need or want me to be."
It was easy for Mikhail to say that; he liked Harry and honestly could see them becoming great friends if not more. Besides, even if they didn't end up hitting it off – which was doubtful - Mikhail was just the kind of person that liked to know that what he said meant something; that it could be relied on.
"Truly," said Mikhail. He was holding both of Harry's hands now and had brought them up to chest height.
Harry's eyes were thoughtful and his cheeks were tinted with red again. He was able to nod though and really hoped that Mikhail didn't let him down like so many others had.
Harry only nodded and with a final squeeze Mikhail released their hands; he was now hyper aware of his attraction to the other boy and knew that now just wasn't the time for him to act. He knew that Harry had other, more important things on his mind.
Mikhail had waited centuries for someone like this and he understood that he could wait a little while more to ensure that he didn't screw it up.
The elevator soon began moving again and they reached the Level One seconds later.
Immediately the doors opened and Harry's jaw dropped. He most certainly never wanted to end up here considering that the worst of the very worst were trapped here in an eternal hell that suddenly made a whole lot of sense.
"Whatever atrocities these people committed in life are now being returned, times ten, forever. To be honest you get used to the screams after a while, but thankfully we rarely have to come down here. I myself only venture down to see how one or two people are doing," Mikhail's face grew serious for a moment and Harry knew better than to ask.
At the same time, Harry couldn't entirely prevent himself from thinking just how much satisfaction he would get in seeing one or two people down here himself.
That honestly made all of this a little easier to stomach knowing that one had to truly earn their place down here.
"Moving on," Mikhail announced as the door closed and the elevator began to ascend.
They soon passed Level Two through Level Six and Harry now understood the subtle differences between ball color and how they corresponded to starkly different eternal fates. However, in the back of his mind he idly wondered where Sirius and his parents were spending their forevers. Would he one day be able to see them again as well?
To be frank the intense longing to see them again unsettled him and he pushed those thoughts aside to focus on what Mikhail was explaining to him.
Level Seven was essentially the paradise that Harry had thought it would be, and they spent the longest time there before Mikhail shuttled them back into the elevator.
"That takes care of where all the souls go, now I'll show you where we work and introduce you to Death."
Harry was slightly apprehensive with this, but Mikhail waved his fears off.
"Don't be nervous, Harry. You absorbed one of Death's Hallows so he's bound to like you."
Harry made an attempt at a weak laugh and subsequently braced himself for what the opening of the elevator doors would reveal.
But whatever he had been expecting, he hadn't been expecting this. It looked too normal, too boring, too much like the offices that Uncle Vernon liked to make approving comments about on his nightly programs.
There were desks and chairs and cubicles and paper, so much paper.
"Every soul that lives and dies has a file associated with it and we have to make sure that all of them get processed correctly. One little clerical error where someone's life history doesn't match his or her judgment or the time of death doesn't match exactly to when it was that little hourglass should have run out and we have ourselves a very big problem on our hands."
Mikhail then explained the ins and outs as they got off the elevator and walked through the Office of Death. It was huge and there were thousands of workers and everywhere he looked seemed to go on forever. Much like the parking garage it was a space without end.
Harry stayed close to Mikhail as he pointed out the various departments for reimbursement and such and introduced him to a few of the better clerks that kept everything running along smoothly and would therefore make Harry's life a lot easier in the long run.
"Mostly these are people who made it into Level Four and applied for the jobs as something to escape their rather dull eternity. If they are good at their various assignments," Mikhail whispered into Harry's ear, "then Death might approve them eligible for Level Five which has significant perks."
Harry thought that sounded pretty fair and tried to familiarize himself as much as possible with the layout. He shuddered to think that he would have to navigate this labyrinth of cubicles alone one day.
"And over this way is where Death's personal office is located. Most of the time you need to schedule an appointment with him several weeks in advance because he is always backed up with souls looking to challenge either being taken from the mortal world too soon or disagreeing with how harshly they were judged. Again, it is very important to keep as accurate as notes as possible and I will be with you for the first few to make sure you get the hang of it."
Harry could not have been more relieved to hear that. Not only did that mean he would have instruction on making sure he carried out his responsibilities correctly, whatever those might be, but he would get to spend more time with Mikhail.
"So…" Mikhail then turned and faced him.
"Are you ready to meet Death?"
Mikhail's eyes were alight and he had a grin on his face.
"As ready as I will ever be."
"That's the spirit!" Mikhail placed his arm around Harry and led him through the double doors.
"Hey Kathy," Mikhail greeted Death's receptionist once they stepped inside.
"I have Death's newest Angel here," he presented Harry to the attractive woman in a smart blouse that had been tucked into a pencil skirt.
"Ooooh, I heard a rumor that we were getting another one."
She walked around the desk with her six inch heels clicking on the floor and looked Harry up and down like he was a piece of meat. It made him slightly uncomfortable because he did not return her aggressive affections in the slightest.
"Yes, he is something, isn't he?" Mikhail agreed while keeping his eyes on her.
"I'll say." The grin on her face widened.
"I'm Kathy Parker," she held out her hand to Harry.
"Harry, Harry Potter," he replied and her face recognized his name immediately.
Her eyebrows raised and she became even more interested in the new Angel of Death.
"Oooooh… Death has been looking forward to meeting you!" she gushed.
"He's been complaining about how long it has taken you to get here in fact."
"Well, Harry is here now. Is He free or should we come back? I can always take Harry on a tour of the place if he is in the middle of something."
"No no no," her hands shook back and forth quickly, "Death will want to be disturbed for this. Just go right in."
She motioned with her hands towards the double doors in the middle of the room.
Harry waved goodbye and Kathy told him to come visit whenever he liked.
Before he could even think of a response, however, Mikhail turned to face him one more time and straightened up his tie again, his lips were now only inches away from Harry's.
"Now, don't be nervous, Harry. Death will love you, I'm sure of it. Feel free to ask him any questions, okay?"
Harry nodded as a frown took over his face.
"You're not coming with me?"
Harry began to chew on his lip as his nerves began to get the better of him; he had no idea how he was supposed to act in front of Death without Mikhail there.
Mikhail was quick to assuage Harry's fears, though.
"It's probably better if you talk with him alone, and to be honest I do have some paperwork of my own to catch up on considering all the time I will be spending with you in the future to get you trained up. However, I will be here when you get back and I promise not to leave again until you feel comfortable. You will learn the layout of this place, know where the supply cabinet is, and then we can go to the World of the Living and get you settled into being Harry Potter again. Deal?"
Harry reluctantly nodded.
"Good, now it's best not to keep him waiting any longer. Good luck, Harry," Mikhail whispered in Harry's ear, before positioning his hands to turn Harry around to face Death's door.
"You'll be fine." Then, Mikhail squeezed the back of Harry's neck affectionately and straightened the way that Harry's suit lay on his shoulders.
Mikhail was painfully aware of just how close his lips had come to the crook of Harry's neck and he felt the shiver that ran through the other boy. However, he silently watched as Harry bravely walked towards Death's mahogany door.
It took only seconds for Harry's hand to press downward on the ornate wooden handle, but he paused as the door clicked open and turned around a final time.
Mikhail gave Harry as supportive of a look as he could muster and nodded his head encouragingly before Harry took another useless, deep breath before turning and heading inside.
When the door closed and Harry was in the other room, Mikhail threw his head back and sighed. He had only known Harry for a few hours and already he was beyond smitten with the boy.
"That bad, huh?" Kathy smiled as her eyesbrows bounced up and down excitedly. Her tongue ran against her upper lip while her eyes gave Mikhail a knowing look.
"You have no idea," Mikhail quipped while shaking his head clear and heading off to run errands so he could be back in time when Harry's conversation with Death was finished.
Harry glanced around the large office. Each wall had a large bookcase on it that seemed to hold more books and scrolls than should have been allowed, even with magic.
On the far wall was a giant window that was split into several different sections with each one showing a different view. If Harry had to guess he would have said that the seven windowpanes on the far left were of the various levels of eternity that he had just visited. However, he had no idea what the different sections on the right corresponded to.
In the center of the room was a large desk made of the same wood as the door and the bookcases if the similar color and graining pattern of the material were anything to go by.
Behind the desk and in front of the wall of windows was a large chair, bigger than any chair that he had ever seen before. The chair was turned around, with its back facing towards Harry so that he couldn't see who was sitting in it.
After several seconds of working up the courage to announce his presence, Harry cleared his throat and said the first thing that came to his mind.
"K-kathy said you wanted to see me as soon as possible, sir." His voice had broken several times and he was a bigger ball of nerves than even Neville had ever been inside the Potions' classroom.
Death's chair swiveled around before Harry could blink, but once he caught sight of the man known as Death, Harry's jaw practically fell off it was hanging so low.
The man looked nothing like the skeletal figure that Harry had subconsciously been expecting. In fact, Harry felt like he needed to take a seat because for the second time that day he was facing someone whose beauty he just didn't have the words to properly describe.
Death was more than hot or sexy, and only after catching sight of the smirk on Death's face did Harry begin to process just how much of a fool he had to look like standing there in his current state.
He slowly closed his mouth and tried to straighten his features as best he could, which only made the light in Death's eyes shine even brighter.
"Well look who we have here. Mr. Potter in the flesh," Death leaned back in his chair and brought his hands to tent together just underneath his chin.
"I've been hoping to meet you for some time. You have no idea how happy I am to see that you finally accepted one of my Hallows."
The man's smile made Harry weak in the knees, the legs, and the toes.
Harry saw a small chair appear in front of the man's desk and he sat down as quickly as he could.
"I decided that enough was enough." Harry's voice was a little stronger now that he wasn't so focused on remaining upright.
What was with these men and how abnormally attractive they were? First Mikhail and now Death, was there something in the water over here?
"Yes, well you certainly have been through a lot, that's for sure. Who has been guiding you, by the way, introducing you to everything since you started on your new path?"
"Um, Mikhail has been. He just dropped me off to file some paper work I believe and then he said he would meet me when we're done."
"Splendid!" Death mused, tapping his fingers together over and over again.
"Mikhail is one of the very best around here; you will learn a lot from him."
Harry nodded his head and couldn't help the genuine and appreciate smile that formed on his face.
"He has already been very helpful in beginning to explain everything."
"I take it you have covered the big items like what you now are and your general responsibilities?"
"For the most part, I think. There has been a lot of information to go over. He did say that he preferred to leave some of the specifics as well as covering the rules to you."
"I see," Death remarked. "Not all of my Angels play equal roles and I think he was right to leave more of the particulars that concern you to me. I'm not sure even he understands how important your role will be."
Death quickly continued upon seeing Harry shift uncomfortably in his seat.
"You know that I am Death and in charge of all souls that leave the mortal world?"
Harry nodded quickly.
"From time to time there are certain developments on Earth that can significantly affect the balance between life and death, which really must exist in equal parts or very unpleasant things begin to happen. Therefore, from time to time I have need of certain individuals that can act on my behalf to make sure the cosmic balance remains even and steady so that both Life and myself are happy. Mikhail explained that and how my Hallows work, correct?"
Again Harry moved his head up and down.
"For the most part…"
"By accepting my Hallow – which yours was my favorite by the way – you have become one of those individuals whose work is of the utmost importance to me. In your case, what I need from you from is greater than what I have needed from my Angels in the past. The damage that Voldemort and Dumbledore have already done is enough to require millennia to undue, and I simply cannot afford either of them to tip the balance any more in my favor. Life is quite put out with me at the moment."
Harry turned his head thoughtfully to the side. From where he sat it seemed like Death was even more annoyed with those two than he was, and he honestly didn't know how he felt about that.
"I think you are the only other person that could understand just how irritated I am with both Dumbledore and Voldemort. On one hand I have a wizard that has managed, either intentionally or unintentionally, to create seven – SEVEN – of those blasted Horcrux things."
Harry's eyes widened, thinking back to that partial soul that Mikhail had killed, the one that had been lodged in his scar and knowing now that there had been that many others. Death ignored his horrible realization in favor of continuing his rant.
"Tom's souls, all of them, belong in my domain!"
Harry couldn't argue with Death there.
"On the other hand I have a wizard who puts way too much stock in a simple and childish prophecy. If Dumbledore wanted to he could have ended this war by himself already. Anyone can destroy a Horcrux, and the man could even have removed the one harmlessly from inside of you. Instead that man allows Voldemort to run free because he feels he isn't the one to defeat the Dark Lord because of some stupid prophecy, thereby giving it even more weight."
Death rolled his eyes and Harry could feel a rising heat being emitted from the man. He was getting angry.
"Here, let me show you," Death reined in his anger somewhat and moved toward the windows on the right.
Harry got up and followed the man, stopping in front of the window farthest to the right.
"I don't know what came before me, if there even was anything. All I know is that one day I existed much as you see me now. I wasn't alone though and soon came to know this other individual as the personification of Life itself. I suppose you could say She is my twin so-to-speak."
Death paused to touch the window with his well-manicured hand. Ripples of energy moved outward from where his fingers rested against the glass and an image then began to form as the swirls settled.
"In time the world came to be and the first souls were born; even to this day I don't know where they come from or how they came to exist in the first place."
Harry watched as the Earth formed before his eyes and the first humans came into existence.
"Life and I soon learned that the souls changed everything between us. At first, the only souls were alive and Life found that She possessed new powers. In fact, during these early years She was much, much stronger than I was. That began to change when the first human souls died and entered my domain. With their deaths I found new strength within myself that gave me the power to create all that you see on this side of the divide."
Harry was utterly mesmerized with both what Death was saying and with what his eyes saw unfold before him. He honestly didn't have words to describe the awe and wonder that he felt inside of him from witnessing the origins of life. It was something that he never expected to witness, and that somehow made it all the more precious that not even Death knew how the beginning became to be.
"Soon Life and I entered into a comfortable existence as the first few eons passed. More souls came into existence and lived their short lives on Earth before dying, and gradually both of our powers and domains grew. The number of souls on Earth at any one time remained somewhat constant but tended to net one or two more every generation or so."
Death had a reminiscent look in his eyes, as if a small part of him longed to experience those simple times once more.
"Unfortunately, that relative harmony was not to last as we next witnessed the birth of souls capable of magic. Their arrival changed everything and both Life and myself spent quite a few years adjusting to how different their souls were. You see, just a single witch or wizard's soul is worth many thousands of times the average non-magical soul in terms of how much power we gain from it. Life and I were quite affected by the bolus of energy given off by the lives and deaths of the first magical souls, and for a few hundred years the differences between our powers fluctuated wildly. Then, however, we reached a sort of equilibrium and it didn't take Life and I long to realize that there came a point in time where the ratio between the number of non-magical and magical souls tended towards a singe constant that could be alive at any one time. Something on the order of twenty five thousand to one, give or take a few hundred as people live and die like they do."
Death paused in his story to allow the screen that they had just moved to stand in front of to catch up.
"I should also mention that with each death I accrue a little more of a soul's energy than Life does while they are living to allow Life and I to be relatively equal to each other in the long run, so you can imagine just how lopsided things were between us when no magical souls had yet crossed over."
Harry nodded at Death; of everything that he was learning that was one of the easier things for him to wrap his brain around.
"You might then be wondering where all of this is headed, and to get there I have a little more background to cover."
Death nodded his head toward the screen that had finally caught up to where he had wanted it to progress in his story. As Harry's eyes watched the screen melt away into the coming scenes, Death's rich and surprisingly soothing voice walked Harry through the next bit of history.
"Under normal circumstances one soul dies and is replaced with the birth of another: a mortal soul for a mortal soul and a magical one for a magical one. Even the occasional premature death can be replaced without much fanfare since two individuals, somewhere, are always capable of doing the necessary act to create another life. The problems that Life and I have run into, however, have been relatively recent, starting around two thousand years ago. And I should mention that the problem rarely stems from non-magical souls, since they are made up of, "Death seemed to choose those words carefully, "so much less in terms of the energy that they contain. Not even the many wars or pandemics have caused that much of a strain on the mortal replacement rate since, again, there are always people capable of having children quite quickly. Large numbers of them in fact! From the very old to those who have recently gone through puberty, it doesn't matter."
At this point, Death took a quick pause and ran his fingers over the window. The image shimmered and changed to give a different perspective.
"Witches and wizards on the other hand are different because their numbers are so much lower. Also, there is just something about a magical soul that just doesn't want to be rushed into existence before its time. In most cases, I might add. It doesn't help that magical people seem incapable of wanting to have more than two or three children. Those that have more are quite rare. Of course, that isn't the only way that magical souls can be born as I'm sure you recognize that there are the so-called Muggle-borns. However, I'll let you in on a little secret: the vast majority of those have magical fathers and their birth resulted from an illicit affair that the mother no longer remembers. Some wizards have trouble keeping it in their pants and don't realize or care what results from those meaningless unions."
Harry's incredulous gasp caused Death to stop talking and the man turned and faced his newest Angel.
"It's true," Death stared at him pointedly.
"It really is quite rare for a magical soul to spontaneously appear from two non-magical parents. Has only happened about three times, in fact."
Death gave Harry a moment to compose himself, and continued when Harry nodded, though his face still had a look of partial disbelief.
"Anyways, back to what I was saying about making sure there is a constant, yet slightly increasing number of magical and non-magical souls that remain in the right proportions. I've already explained that while a large number of Muggle deaths can easily be corrected for, that isn't the same for magical souls and therein lies the root of the problem. For example, during the rise of Grindelwald many witches and wizards died and their souls couldn't be replaced that easily; at least, not right away. What ended up happening was that non-magical souls suddenly began to live longer and a huge explosion of Muggles began having children to make up for the loss of magical energy. It was quite a feat mind you, and the human population nearly doubled in a very short time frame. However, now the ratio was even more out of balance but over the next few years witches and wizards began having more children. Actually, what really happened was that a hell of lot more Muggle-borns were made and they flooded into the wizarding world a decade later. For a few years after World War II – which is not very long at all in the grand scheme of things – things were more or less beginning to return to the normal ratio."
Death made the motion to move to the last windowpane before the seven focusing in on the various levels of eternity started on the left. Given that this was the last one, and that they were now discussing the time period in which his parents had lived, Harry reasoned that they were almost finished.
"You can imagine how well-received those Muggle-borns were into a society that valued purebloods among all others. The time was ripe for someone like Tom Riddle who had never liked Muggles in the first place to really rise into power. Of course, the number of witches and wizards that died alongside your parents only recreated the problem caused by Grindelwald and history soon repeated itself again. The world's population of Muggles doubled again and that caused more and more magical souls – be they pureblood, half blood, or Muggle-born – that needed to be created. Which brings us to the present," Death waved his hand in front of the window for a final time.
"We are at a point where some souls are far outliving their allotted time – either through magic or rapidly advancing Muggle technology – and some souls are robbed of their time on Earth. Whomever decides the cosmic balance demands that things be balanced, and the later causes me so many headaches with people complaining they didn't have long enough to show how good they were you don't even want to know. In the past, Life and I have tried and were mostly successful in keeping things balanced. To be fair, most of the burden falls on me because when large numbers of magical beings die before their allotted time Life isn't able to absorb all of the power that she should while I end up collecting more than my fair share. Thus, Life allows me my Angels to impact the world and correct the balance."
"I understand it now," Harry breathed against the glass. It all made perfect sense and it irrevocably changed how he saw the world.
Everyone had his or her time, and really no more.
"Do you? I haven't even shown you the real problem yet."
Death snorted but when Harry met his eyes the man wasn't angry and had a patient, understanding look in his eyes.
"With all the deaths after the war with Grindelwald and the first wizarding war against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, I simply can't afford to absorb the deaths that will come with the second war. Life will not be able to handle what will happen on her side, either."
Harry gasped as the image changed and he was shown a future in which Voldemort had won. Thousands upon thousands of witches and wizards were slaughtered and with each death more Muggles would be born. However, since Voldemort would have remained unchallenged for all eternity, Wizards would eventually come to dominate and Muggles would be born to only be slaughtered in a vicious cycle that forever gave Death the upper hand.
"On the other hand, if you had never accepted my offer and managed to kill Voldemort according to Dumbledore's ridiculous timeline, the world would only be marginally better off. True, fewer wizards would have died but too many Muggles would still have needed to be born. Voldemort's death wouldn't have changed how some remaining magical people viewed them as inferior and a war between wizards and Muggles would have resulted anyways. Wizards, of course, would have won easily but in the end it would be too similar to the world where Voldemort had won to make that much of a difference. Neither Life nor I can handle a future in which wizards dominate, and for us to be balanced, Muggles and wizards need to be balanced. "
Harry had a tear in his eye as he saw the future that he would have had. Too many people that he knew would have been killed all because Dumbledore left the Horcruxes to him after Severus Snape killed Albus atop the Astronomy Tower in just under a year from now. Knowing what he did in this moment about what the Horcruxes were and where they had been located, it made his stomach lurch at thinking how close he had come to that fate considering how easy it would have been for Dumbledore to have dealt with them himself.
"That bastard!"
"You will have to be more specific, Harry," Death snorted again despite the seriousness of what they were looking at.
Just then, however, the full and true weight of what he was looking at and why he was here hit him.
"Wait, what about now? How am I supposed to fix any of this?"
Harry's face looked terror stricken but Death put his arm around his shoulder and tipped his chin up with his finger.
"Fortunately," Death said slowly and purposefully, "we still have time to correct much of what could go wrong and create another future that is much better off for all involved. Normally, Life would prefer us not to interfere on this level but the consequences are too severe if we don't do that that She is willing to look the other way just this once."
Harry's soon-to-be panic attack was momentarily averted, but he still had no clue as to how he was supposed to deal with any of this. Hadn't this new path that he was on started with wanting righteous justice? How had it ended up where the fate of the world was resting even more heavily on his shoulders now?
"Relax, Harry," Death soothed upon seeing the still frantic look on Harry's face.
"It's bad, but not as bad as it appears. You have plenty of time to ensure that neither of those futures come to pass and you will not have to do this alone."
Death led him back to his seat before taking his own again.
"Mikhail will be assigned to help you with some of the specifics and hopefully by this time next year this will all be behind us until the next time things go south."
Harry's mood improved considerably upon hearing that he didn't have to deal with this alone. He of course ignored the implication that this could or would happen again. However, the momentary relief that washed over him was soon replaced with another existential crisis that he couldn't just sweep under the rug and ignore.
"Death… Sir…?" Harry began and then paused and then began again.
"Death will do just fine," his new boss responded.
"Not that I mean to be disrespectful but isn't it a bit unethical perhaps to affect the lives of others so much even if the end justifies the means. Aren't we taking away free will to an extent?"
As someone who had just realized how manipulated he had been it was something that Harry was perhaps more aware of and sensitive to than most.
"Yes and no, Harry," Death surprised him by agreeing to some extent.
"It's not wrong to wonder if this is how life is supposed to go if everyone has free will. However, while each of those people down there – or rather up here, I'm not entirely sure where we are exactly – is free to make their own choices they do have consequences. And one of those consequences is how they affect Life and myself. Normally I care very little about the everyday events on Earth. I have a Judge that gives people an eternity that matches how someone lived their life. If they were a good person then a definite number of horrible years will translate to a blissful existence until the end of time; evil people get their just rewards as well. Still, I try and only correct for the rather abnormal outliers that severely affect life on Earth and the balance between Life and I. I would argue that I'm allowed to care about things that affect me and do something about it."
"Which brings me to the last thing that we need to discuss. I'm sure Mikhail has at least brought up some of the restrictions you will have to abide by?"
"The rules!" Harry did a combination sigh and nod, a little relieved that he remembered he couldn't actually play god – even if morally wrong actions were sometimes necessary to achieve morally right outcomes. It had just been a bit all-consuming for him to process for a minute.
"It is true that you have a very large task ahead of you but it is also true that you will have some restrictions to prevent you from playing god, as you put it, too much. The first rule is rather simple, Harry, and under no circumstances are you to kill someone before their time."
Death pressed him hard with his obsidian eyes and Harry knew at that moment that he would never, ever break this rule.
"That little hourglass hovering over a person's head? Please make sure that it has run out before you remove the soul from that person's body. The last thing I need is for Life to not collect all She is entitled to or have a person in here demanding that they were judged incorrectly."
Harry shook his head in an agreeing manner while remembering what Mikhail had told him.
"And make sure that I fill out the correct paperwork after, right?"
Death was pleasantly surprised by Harry's statement.
"Remind me to give Mikhail a raise when this is over with."
"Okay," Harry responded; it wasn't like he could say no to the man.
"Now, to answer your question more fully. You also may not directly cause someone to be killed ahead of his or her time. For example, you can't push someone in front of an oncoming train; however, you could leave it to someone else's free will to act on killing that soul."
Harry tilted his head to the side. He didn't understand.
"I really, really want all of Tom Riddle's souls here where they should be. You even had one of them lodged in your skull, right?"
Harry nodded, suddenly understanding where he was going with this on account of his faster processing speed.
"You couldn't remove it directly, however, but you could offer me a place as your Angel. Thus, by me accepting and walking through the Veil, I was the one that really killed him and so Mikhail could take his soul?"
Death beamed at him.
"Exactly!"
"The third rule is that you may not explicitly reveal who or what you really are to a mortal. It will change how they act and thus how they are ultimately judged and if it got out it could really affect a huge number of things. Make sense?"
"Yes."
"The last rule is that you really shouldn't use your position for any personal gain – but in this case both Life and I have agreed that because of how important it is for you to succeed, the pair of us are willing to overlook a few personal scores that you wanted to settle. Nothing too severe but at the same time something to show our appreciation for your efforts. At any rate, I imagine you can think of a way to deal with them at the same time that you take care of Voldemort and Dumbledore."
That actually made Harry feel a lot better, and he would literally be able to have his cake and eat it too without worrying too much about the implications of personally affecting the course of history. Well, more than he was already destined to.
It was a win-win in Harry's mind.
As Harry sat there, absorbing everything he suddenly had another question.
"What happens if and when we finish? Do we really do this for all eternity."
Just then Death leaned forward in his chair and placed his elbows on the desk, with his hands intertwined and his chin resting on top of them. He peered at Harry intently before answering.
"Most of my Angels retire after different lengths of time in my service. I will tell you right now that I offer a Level Seven to any of them should they so desire; however, and you will no doubt think about this many times in the years to come, but that might not be the place that you want to end up for the rest of time."
"Why wouldn't I want to have that?" Harry pressed, his mind trying to come up with a downside and failing.
"Tell me Harry, would you want to spend an eternity without seeing those whom you loved most again?"
"Oh," Harry mouth suddenly seeing how simple it was.
"You can therefore choose any level you so desire when that time comes. However, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't also say that should you abuse your position in any significant way, you will be stripped of your powers and judged accordingly."
That sounded exceedingly appropriate to Harry, all things considered.
"I think that is almost everything that I wanted to touch base with you on right now. Do you have any immediate questions for me? I'm sure Mikhail will be able to fill in whatever blanks are left and my door is always open to you; I'm sure Kathy can find a way to squeeze you in too if something major comes up."
Harry did have an immediate question; he didn't think he would be able to wait on this any longer. Not after his thoughts in the elevator and with what he had just heard about selecting the level that he could remain in for all time.
"Do you know where my parents are? Where Sirius is? Could I see them?"
Death kept resting his chin upon his hands and his eyes searched Harry more intensely than they ever had. After about a minute he leaned back and gave Harry a very direct answer.
"I know where they are and in time you will too, but I would recommend against trying to see them until you have been here for a while. With time, your mind will be better able to cope with the true nature of what it is you ask and be able to decide the many pros versus the unbearable cons. I'm afraid that I can't explain it better than that; some things are just too complex to be put into words before you are ready to truly understand them, even for me."
Harry could only nod his head forward; he didn't entirely know how to respond to that after having just witnessed the birth of creation.
"It'll make more sense later; but for now I'm sure Mikhail will get you settled in properly. Oh, and tell him to schedule his new assignments with Kathy as well. I have high hopes for the two of you!"
Death's grin continued to widen.
"I'm glad you're here, Harry; it isn't often that I have an Angel deal with something that affected them so personally. For what it is worth I find it very appropriate."
With that Death stood to walk him out.
Given all the serious issues they had talked about Harry wasn't as swayed by the man's beauty. It hardly registered how close Death was standing to him now or that the man's hand was resting upon his shoulder.
Harry had other things on his mind and to be honest was just looking forward to seeing Mikhail again. Whatever happened in the future at least he had some comfort in knowing that for the first time he didn't have to face it alone. That meant more to him than anything.
Before leaving, however, Harry thanked Death for his time and promised to keep the man updated on his progress. Then he walked out of Death's office and, true to his word, there was Mikhail waiting for him.
Things were already looking up.
This took longer to write than I want to admit and I went back and forth A LOT. I think it is a good mix of telling you some things, leaving some things for the future, and letting your own imagination fill in the rest.
Hope you enjoyed it and I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts.