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Harry Potter and the Incarnation of Death:

Chapter Two:

His watched beeped again and he cursed to himself at being left alone after such a brief introduction into Death 101. "Six minutes already? Time fly's...Wait!"

Harry looked at his watch and pushed the bottom button and suddenly the world around him came to a standstill. He took a few moments to appreciate the strangeness of birds suspended in mid flight, and ambulance coming around the corner with its lights frozen. You could actually see the beams of light as they extended a short distance from the source before spreading out into the atmosphere. "Wicked..."

Another beep and Harry checked his watch, only to find that the timer was reminding him not warning him he'd lost another minute. He quickly jogged across the street to Mortis the Cadillac and hopped into the drivers seat still holding the soul. "What do I do with this?"

The monitor in the dash changed to a diagram of a stick figure folding another stick figure carefully and placing it into a pouch. Harry felt the belt around his waste and found a similar pouch so he gently folded the soul material until it was smaller than a galleon and placed it into the pouch. "Thank you Mortis, whoever the last guy was seems to have included an instruction manual of some kind, either that or you've just seen it done so often you could show me. Well...how about we get this show on the road then? Next appointment please."

Mortis' engine came to life and he quickly pulled a U-turn and took flight as he went around the corner. The world seemed to blur around and beneath him until the monitor beeped and a map of the US appeared quickly zooming in toward the center of the country. St. Louis appeared to be the destination and the world slowed back into view as they passed the Arch and landed on a highway nearby. Mortis followed along until he took an off ramp and slowed to a stop outside of a corner bar.

Harry exited the vehicle and followed his compass into the bar and over to a corner booth, He found it strange that it was so quiet until he remembered to let time flow again. As he pushed the button he world came on and the noise returned much like turning on the telly. And he was now looking at a rather depressed looking fellow who appeared to be several drinks into snockered. The man looked up suddenly and stared directly into Harry's eyes...or the sockets where his eyes should have been.

"Oh...its just you, come to take me away finally I see."

Startled, Harry looked around to make sure nobody else could see him before quickly palming his wand and casting a notice-me-not around the table and sitting down. "You can see me?"

"What, I've got eyes don't I, you think I can't see you?" The man said in a slurred and depressed tone.

"Your British?"

"How astute, of course I'm British, that's part of the problem then isn't it? Visa expiring, wife and children dead and nothing left to live for, too much of a coward to kill myself and too smart to kill myself even if I were brave enough."

Harry checked his watch and saw that he still had 3 minutes left so he summoned a bottle of whiskey the bartender had just sat down and a couple of glasses. "I'm Harry and its a pleasure to meet a fellow Brit."

Only as he held his hand out to shake did he realize just how awkward that must be for the other man, and indeed the other man had a raised eyebrow. "You'll understand if I'm not overly thrilled to meet you, then again what kind of a name is Harry for the Grim Reaper? But then I suppose Marvin isn't all that great a name either."

The specter of Death raised the glass to his lipless mouth and somehow managed not to spill a drop, so Marvin followed suit. "So what brings you here?" Harry asked.

"Never had any children and my wife died."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, that was the second happiest day of my life." Marvin said, still sounding as if his puppy was just run over.

Harry nearly choked at that remark but luckily recovered with just a cough, "Bloody...what was the most happy day of your life then?"

Marvin sighed, "Today of course, I've been ready to die for years and now I finally get to. So how long have I got?"

Harry checked his watch, "About two minutes left looks like."

"Are you sure you can't take me early? I've rather grown bored of living."

"Well," Harry said while scratching his jawbone, "I'm actually sort of new at this and I wouldn't want to screw anything up by taking you early, sorry."

Marvin slumped in his seat and poured another shot of whiskey, "Oh well, I suppose it can't be helped. Just like the rest of my miserable life. What do you mean you're new at this? People have been dying forever."

"Well you're actually only my second client, I just got the job today."

"Do you have to pick up all of your clients yourself? That's an awfully big job, must be really exciting...something I can't say about my life."

"No, well I mean, I just deal in cases where a person won't go to Heaven or Hell by themselves when they die, my Will sort of takes care of those without me thinking about it, at least that's what I was told."

"Oh bollocks, I had to get the Trainee on my last day on earth. Bugger my life, would you just take me now so I don't have to think about just how fitting an end this is for me?"

Checking his watch one more time Harry shrugged, "Well it was nice talking to you..I guess?"

"Whatever."

Harry reached into the mans chest and caught hold of his soul, pulling it out gently as his body lay back against the booth. He folded the man's soul quickly and putting him into the pouch. Before standing up and canceling the spell around the booth. He heard the waitress call for someone to call an ambulance just as he walked out of the door and climbed back into Mortis.

"Well that was...odd, I thought people weren't supposed to see me unless I made myself known to them."

The monitor in the dash displayed a bit of text and Harry leaned forward to read it:

THOSE WHOM HAVE BUSINESS WITH DEATH, OR THOSE WHO HAVE SEER IN THEIR BLOOD MAY PERCIEVE THE INCARNATION OF DEATH WITHOUT HIS ACTIVELY MAKING HIS PRESCENCE KNOWN.

Harry nodded and then looked puzzled for a moment...as puzzled as a skull can look, "So can you actually talk to me then Mortis?"

THIS UNIT IS A DUMMY NODE OF THE CENTRAL COMPUTER IN PURGATORY. IT IS CAPABLE OF RECOGNIZING SPEECH BUT NOT OF CONVERSATION. PLEASE STATE YOUR NEXT INQUIRY.

"Just a bloody computer then, I never did understand these things beyond Dudders playing video games on his before he traded it for drugs."

UNABLE TO PROCESS QUERY, PLEASE RESTATE.

"Never mind, when do I get a break? That is, when do I get to knock off for the evening?"

EVENING IS DETERMINED BY YOUR CURRENT LOCATION ON THE GLOBE, THE INCARNATION CAN HOWEVER PAUSE HIS SCHEDULE IN ORDER TO EAT OR SLEEP OR TO DELIVER CLIENTS TO PURGATORY FOR PROCESSING.

"Oh yeah!" Harry said smacking himself in the forehead, "The other button...well lets make one more stop before heading back to..um..."

PURGATORY

"Right, so next client please Mortis?"

The car pulled out of its parking and onto the road and rose into the air as it went around the next corner. Once in the air it accelerated and Harry checked his watch to see that he now had twelve minutes until his next pick-up was scheduled so he let the horse/car do its thing rather than stopping time at least for the moment. It didn't take him long to get bored however.

He checked the center dash and found the radio, turning it on he only seemed to get a couple of channels and they were all talk. Finally settling in on one just for the white noise it would provide he lay back and thought about what a crazy day it had been and just how he felt about his new job.

And watch out folks there is a new Incarnation in town. Sources tell us that Harry Potter has taken over for Zane, our former Incarnation of Death. Harry Potter as some of you will remember is known as the Boy Who Lived for not coming to his own end at Zanes hands 24 years ago when the Dark Lord Tom Riddle killed his mother and father. Recently Harry managed to outlast his tormentor when the mortal government of England declared war on the British Wizarding World and blew it to tiny pieces. However there is a twist, as former Dark Lord and recently discorporated wraith Tom Riddle, now resides inside of Harry Potter thanks to a soul anchor which was accidentally placed within him during that attack which killed his parents.

"Bloody Hell!" Harry said sitting up straight.

The monitor in the dash came to life with an image of a red skinned man with horns and pointed teeth replacing the GPS map. "Don't mind them, the news on PNN is rather personalized. You get used to it."

"Um...thank you? And who might you be?"

"You mean you don't recognize me? Well that is most certainly a breath of fresh air, then again I suppose you never really subscribed to the religion of your relatives or really, needed to think of anything more evil than Tom Riddle. I suppose you didn't have much time to ponder an afterlife either so I won't blame you."

"Uh..sorry?"

The man rolled his eyes and smiled, "Where are my manner? You might recognize me as the face of evil? The Dark One? Pyra Traho Merit?"

"Lucifer?"

The Dark One shook his head, "No no, he was way before my time, you can feel free to call me Jim though."

"Before your time?"

"Lucifer, Mephistopheles, The Devil; all predecessor's of mine. Each new Incarnation of Evil takes a new name. I kinda struggled coming up with mine and settled on Pyra Trahomerit but it hasn't exactly caught on yet, I suppose you can still call me Satan since that's who I took over for, but I'd really rather you call me Jim."

"Why does that sound Latin?" Harry asked, completely setting aside the fact that he was speaking to the personification of Evil with a capital 'E'. After all, who would want to talk to Death if they were given the choice?

Pyra grinned devilishly, "I love it when someone picks up on that! It roughly translates to 'Respect me as I drag you through the fire'." As Harry pulled a face he lost his smile, "What? I told you I had trouble coming up with it! I only had like 2 minutes to decide!"

"Oh...okay...so...Jim...not to be rude, but why are you calling me?"

There was a poof of red smoke that smelled a bit of brimstone, and the man was sitting in the passenger seat, "Because I thought it would be rude to just pop by without calling first. So lets do the thing properly, I'm Jim and you are?" He finished, holding out his hand.

Harry cautiously reached his hand out and shook the hand which was pleasantly warmer than he expected. "You still haven't explained why you are here though."

"I like to meet with the new Incarnations personally, and I won't lie, I usually have some sort of test ready for them. But after the last round of Incarnations I've had quite enough and honestly, for reasons I cannot explain to you at the moment, I can't really do anything to affect your work or bend you to my will anyway. It is actually rather nice to just be myself for once since I have no alternative."

Harry checked his watch and saw that he only had four minutes left. "Okay, um, I mean, I'm a regular guy just doing a job here and many people hate Death. So I guess I should give you the benefit of the doubt... But I do have a job to be doing so can we pick this up some other time?"

"Of course of course, just give me a buzz when you have a spare moment. I look forward to talking more with you Harry."

Much like a Cheshire cat his body dissolved into red smoke leaving only his smile which then dissolved as well and the cloud faded from sight. The monitor beeped at him and showed a frowning face. "I know Mortis, but its not like I accepted any favors or made a deal with the devil or something."

THE INCARNATION YOU ARE DEALING WITH IS PYRA. DEVIL WAS ONE OF SATAN'S PREDECESSORS.

"I wasn't talking to you Computer! Wasn't that Mortis showing me how to fold a soul earlier?"

AFFIRMATIVE

"Then how do I turn off the Central Computer function and get the horse back?"

A stick figure diagram showed up with a finger pressing a button and an arrow pointing at the corner of the screen. Harry looked and found a button labeled LINK and pressed it.

"Is it gone? I never liked those things except for playing video games when Dudders wasn't watching."

A smiley face blinked onto the screen.

"Alright Mortis," Harry could feel his brain trying to leak out of his ears, too much had happened in too short of a time span and he needed time to process it all. "Can we go back to this Purgatory place so I can get my head on straight?"

The car lurched into motion heading straight up through the clouds, as they broke through he reverted to Horse form and Harry was suddenly reminded of riding Buckbeak with the wind whipping his hair and cloak behind him. He grinned at the memory until he remembered that Hermione was gone, now feeling depressed again he almost missed it when the horse landed in an open field and began grazing. It had been a few long minutes of brooding before he finally dismounted and looked around.

The plains he had landed on extended out in all directions with an odd sort of disappearing into gray mist, he realized after a few minutes what it was that was disconcerting, there was no horizon, no tell tail curvature that indicated he was on the planet any longer. He spotted a house that hadn't been there before as he completed a 360 degree turn. "Is that home?" He asked the horse.

Mortis looked up at him and did the equivalent of a horse-nod before going back to his grazing, so Harry walked toward the building. At the front door he paused, not knowing the proper way to introduce himself, after all this had been his predecessor's home only an hour ago. Finally he settled on knocking.

The door opened shortly after and a bored looking older man appraised him with an arched eyebrow. "Good afternoon Master Thanatos, we've been expecting you." He then turned aside to let Death cross the threshold.

"Um...thank you..." he drew the last word out trying to get a name.

"Jefferson, Jefferson Wilshire sir."

Harry walked in and looked around the manor house. While the outside had reminded him of a funeral parlor, the inside was remarkably well appointed. His Aunt Petunia would have been green with envy.

Jefferson interrupted his musing, "May I take your cloak sir?"

"What? Oh!" Harry had forgotten he had his death regalia on and quickly dropped the hood and began taking off the gloves and footwear. The butler collected them neatly over one arm and turned to leave the room.

Harry walked in sock feet to what appeared to be the living room and sat down in the comfortable looking armchair facing the television. Finding the remote on the table he turned on the device and leaned back closing his eyes. Trying to sort out everything that had happened in the past hour.

In our top story, people all over the world are suffering as they wait for Deaths touch. Thanatos as you may have heard was recently replaced by Harry Potter after having killed the former occupant of the office. Harry appears to be relaxing in his mansion with no regard for the suffering of the people.

Harry opened his eyes in alarm and looked at his watch which was by now, a full minute over the timer for his next pickup. He quickly pressed the button to pause his schedule and watched as the timer reset itself to zero.

It looks like we may have reported a bit too soon, the suffering has ended and Death is taking a well deserved rest after a hard first day of training. He successfully took his first two souls without missing a beat, Fate was rather happy with the replacement of former Incarnation, Zane, who it is reported has finally joined his beloved Luna in Heaven.

"Did he just say Luna?" Harry asked out loud, finding that quite the coincidence and honestly, not putting it past Luna to be the consort of his predecessor.

The Luna in question should not be confused with his friend in life, Luna Lovegood who is a favorite of Mother Nature. Luna Kaftan is the Granddaughter of Niobe, one of the aspects of Fate and Niece of Orb, the current Green Mother and the the former Incarnation of Evil, Parry (also known as Satan). You will all remember the inter family fight involving Luna and Orb several decades ago which led directly to so many close family members being raised to their Incarnation Offices...

Harry turned off the scary-real-time-and-personal news before going back to his thoughts.

Everyone he cared about (with the exception of Luna Lovegood) was dead.

He'd wanted to end his life, in order to take Tom Riddle with him

At the thought of his name the annoying voice in his head began ranting again, how whether Harry realized it or not he had finally helped Tom to achieve immortality. As long as his soul resided inside Harry, he could not die! Harry was immortal and therefore, Voldemort was immortal!

"Shut Up! I've had enough of you whispering bullshit into my head!"

The spirit of Tom Riddle instantly shut up again, though Harry could almost feel him struggling to yell back. Harry smiled, wondering idly if his new status as Death meant he could control the dead?

Everyone he cared about was dead (except Luna Lovegood, not to be confused with Luna Kaftan..whoever that was)

He took Tom with him into Death, though not quite the way he expected.

He killed Death Itself, and subsequently, he was now Death Itself

Chronos was helpful, but annoyingly disappeared after convincing him to take the job.

Chronos reminded him of someone he couldn't quite put his finger on...

"Pardon me sir, but there is a caller for you at the door. Would you like me to show her in?"

Harry looked up at his...servant? Butler? "Um...sure?"

"Very well sir."

Jefferson disappeared for a moment and a beautiful woman walked in, long flowing blond hair with hints of vines running through it. Bright green eyes and a slight green tint to her skin. The woman smiled and Harry swore he could feel the sun and wind blowing over his skin the way it did when he was on a broom. He surmised, based on the available information, that this must be Mother Nature.

He quickly stood and bowed to her. "My Lady Gaea..."

She giggled musically and it reminded him somehow of rain falling in a forest, "Please Harry, while some may say I am one of the Greater Incarnations, in truth Death and Nature are not only closely linked, but equals in most things. In fact, while I am in your domain I am somewhat at your mercy."

He raised his head and looked at her, "At my mercy?"

She nodded and gestured to a chair, silently asking for permission to sit, he nodded and sat on the couch facing her. "Yes Harry, every Incarnation has complete control over their own domain. Normally I would not leave mine for a social visit. Indeed I am a very busy woman and normally, I make others come to me...to ensure they are properly...humbled before asking me a favor."

"Then why..." he began.

"Why am I humbling myself to meet you in your own domain?" he nodded dumbly and she smiled, "To be honest, things have quieted down quite a lot in the past few decades and I remembered how much it meant to me to have the other Incarnations pay me a visit when I first took the office. Granted I had a bit of foreknowledge which you unfortunately do not."

His eyes widened, thanking the news report silently, "Ah! So you are Orb, daughter of Fate?"

She smiled in response, "Isn't the news reporting so much more informative than anything they have in the mortal realm?"

"Apparently so..." he agreed, "I don't have any idea..." he tried to tell her he was lost as to what to talk about and she took pity on him.

"I daresay the office of Death is probably the hardest one to ascend to. Each of the others have some choice...and in fact are normally somewhat screened for beforehand. My husband possibly being an exception."

"Your husband...Satan? How does that work?"

She smiled knowingly at him, "Parry and I had a most unusual courtship, and while we were not able to openly consort any longer once we were married and I was raised to office, that hasn't been a problem for several years. Satan gave up his office to Pyra in the eighties and I am forever grateful to finally have my husband to myself. Even if I do have to still visit him in Hell."

Harry wasn't quite sure what to make of all this information, it seemed oddly personal. "Well..um...congratulations?"

Her eyes twinkled in mirth, "The new guy is absolutely awful about paperwork, so Parry is acting as his personal assistant. Although that seems to be the trend amongst the Dark Ones, they all end up in senior management positions after they are removed from office."

Harry shivered, "Honestly, paperwork is its own sort of Hell if you ask me."

Mother Nature laughed and it was musical, the sound flowed through him and revitalized him in a way that reminded him of pepper-up potion combined with his Patronus.

"I didn't realize the joke was that funny?" Harry asked her turning his head to the side.

She tried to collect herself but seemed to be lost in a giggling fit, "Oh Harry, I am so happy to have you in this office, you say the funniest things. Actually, that is almost word for word what Pyra said when he took over!"

None of this was helping Harry understand what was happening to him, "So was this really just a social visit? Or do you have some other items to discuss."

She beamed at him, "Actually, this is very much just a social visit. I don't do it often enough, but having my husband available to me more than once or twice a month does wonders for a girls mood. I just wanted to welcome you personally to our little family," She giggled again at her own joke, "And I hope you enjoy your time in office."

Harry frowned at that, "How can I enjoy taking life? I've managed to okay so far...but if we know these things are going to happen to people far enough ahead to set a schedule then why can't we just put a stop to it?"

Orb stopped her laughing and pinned him with her eyes, "Harry, can you imagine a world where nothing and nobody dies? Children would still be born and soon the world would be overflowing in population. There is still free will as well to consider, we could possibly stop anyone from dying...indeed that is your right as the Incarnation of Death, but people are going to get hurt...people are going to die, and sometimes Death is the kindest thing you can offer a person. Death is part of Nature Harry, and Nature is part of Death. Our two offices enable the other to exist, without you Nature would quickly run out of control, and without Nature, Death would have no purpose. If you'd really like a rundown of how it all works you should speak to Fate."

"And that would be your mother?" Harry asked, trying to change the subject.

She nodded, "My mother has actually been two of the aspects of fate, one of the only Incarnations to have held more than one office, though due to a snarl in her tapestry another has surpassed even her accomplishment. Speaking of..."

Harry followed Orbs eyes to the middle of the room where a spider was coming down a line of web, what concerned him was that it appeared to be growing in size. He drew his wand instinctively, fearing it was some sort of Acromantula, until the spider shifted forms somehow into a middle aged but still lovely woman who grinned at him. "Hello Harry."

"Um...Hello?" He was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed with all the visitors.

"Harry I'd like you to meet Lachesis the middle aspect of Fate, also known as my mother, Naomi."

Harry stood and bowed once more and the woman rolled her eyes and sat on the couch between where he had been sitting, and her daughter. "Hello dear, it has been too long since we have gotten together for a social visit hasn't it?" She said to Orb.

Harry was trying to remember his mythology, if this was the middle aspect of Fate then she represented the present, the other two being the past and the future. He didn't remember much else about the Fates besides a portrayal of them as hags in some cartoon he'd watched. Obviously reality was much kinder. "So is everyone going to just drop by today?" He asked them.

"Oh goodness!" Lachesis said with a frown, "I do apologize for just dropping in on you uninvited, the least I could have done was use the door."

"No...its fine I suppose. This place doesn't really feel like home just yet in any case. I'm not even sure where the bedroom or the bathroom are, I haven't made it past the living room yet." He said sitting back down.

"I was still in the wrong dear, and look at me not even introducing the rest of us to you."

"The rest of whom?" he asked.

Lachesis seemed to shift until suddenly a beautiful Asian girl was sitting in on the couch. "Hello Harry," The girl reminded him remarkably of Cho, "My name is Clotho, it's nice to meet you."

His tongue seemed glued to the top of his mouth so he only nodded to her before she shifted again and an old black woman was in her place speaking with an American accent.. "And I am Atropos, pleased to make your acquaintance."

He shook his head, "I'm never going to get used to this..."

"You think you have it bad sonny, you should try being us! Imagine having more than one person inside your head. Not that I mind the company most of the time, and it does have it's benefits when Clotho goes to meet with Chronos."

Atropos shifted back to Lachesis who was blushing, "Do not go airing our dirty laundry old woman! Honestly..." She seemed to look far away for a moment before shifting once more to Clotho. "Harry...I.." The girl blushed for some reason, and Harry blushed right back at her, she was remarkably beautiful, "I have to apologize but this isn't really a social call, Orb might have lied a bit about that."

The woman in question only looked him in the eye and winked, causing him to blush again for some reason. Clotho continued, "You see...I am ready to return to my life...I want to have children and I'm afraid I can't do that as an Incarnation."

Harry was confused, "I'm not sure I understand how I can help...I'm the Incarnation of Death, not Life..." To be honest, this could be one of his powers and he would have no clue.

The girl shook her head, "No you see, this actually has nothing to do with you being an Incarnation and everything to do with the girl we have picked to be my replacement."

"Oh?" he really had no clue where this was going.

Orb took pity on him, "Harry, we'd like you to come with us, to convince Luna Lovegood to take up the office."

"Luna? Really?" He asked in shock, it would be nice having a friend close by. "Didn't I hear something about her being a favorite of yours Orb?"

Mother Nature grinned, "Oh that girl is absolutely marvelous, she can see the things I have only dreamed of creating. Her seer blood will be an absolutely wonderful boon to the office of Fate."

Harry was confused again, "But...if you are Fate...then don't you already know what is going to happen? What good would a Seer do?"

Clotho became Lachesis again, "Fate weaves the tapestry, we render souls from the void, lay them in precise patterns, and measure each one to fit perfectly within the tapestry. But we do not control free will. Each person can do what they wish with their lives within the boundaries of the tapestry. Every once in a while there will be a tangle in the skein and a thread which crosses many others will need the interference of Incarnations to straighten things back out. You yourself are such a tangle Harry."

"Me? But I'm not anything special!"

Lachesis shook her head, "Where do you think Prophecy comes from Harry? Only those very important threads, those which affect so many others just by their presense, require personal attention from us. I know you had a hard life Harry and I am sorry, we could not prevent he death of your parents, nor the abuse you received at the hands of your relatives..."

Gaea interrupted as lightning flashed and thunder shook the house, "I absolutely despise the Dursleys Harry, they are the worst of Humanity and I begged often for mother to intercede."

"Unfortunately, all we could do was push events towards correcting the tangle that was your life, else the entirety of the Tapestry may have come unraveled."

Harry sat silently for a few moments, contemplating everything he had been told. It appeared that while his life was hard, as many times as he'd referred to himself as 'Fates Bitch' in all reality, Fate had done everything she could to make his life easier.

"Actually Harry...besides Luna there is another matter you can help me with." Lachesis said.

He looked up, "What's that?"

Naomi put her fingers together in a box before pulling them apart and revealing a woven magical tapestry between the corners of her hands. "You can see your thread here Harry." She directed him to a place where a new golden thread was laid amongst many red and blue ones with a silver one running along side it. "The gold signifies that this is an Incarnation and no longer affects the rest of the tapestry, it did not turn gold until you chose to take on the office, before that it was silver. You can see where your line begins here in 1980..."

Harry noted the golden line, which disappeared off the top of the skein and seemed to double back once before returning to the top and disappearing again. Lachesis zoomed in on that first single golden line with the parallel silver line and began to follow it. "One year later, when your parents died and Tom Riddle was defeated for the first time, you can see the silver get tangled with the gold. That is where the prophecy took hold, forever tangling your lives."

"Neither can live while the other survives." he quoted the prophecy.

She nodded, "Indeed, however if we fast forward to this year," The fabric zoomed along, following the golden and silver threads, "We can finally fix was Tom Riddle did to mess with my Tapestry!"

Harry looked intrigued, "By creating the horcruxes...did that remove him from the tapestry the same way an Incarnation is?"

"Not exactly, you see..." She moved the skein back a large distance to show him another golden thread, "This is my thread Harry, you can see where I became Clotho," she fast forwarded, "and where I became mortal again in order to raise a family."

The thread went from gold back to red and wove itself back into the pattern. She then followed it quickly to a point where a gold thread appeared next to hers, "This is where Orb was born, her thread turned Gold when she became Mother Nature," another fast forward, "And you can see my thread turns gold again here and removes itself from the pattern when I became Lachesis."

She moved the skein again to show his current location "Now if we go back to this point in your thread you can see that although you are outside the tapestry, Tom Riddle's thread still weaves throughout the rest of it. It should have ended back in 1981, but the snarl simply could not be resolved until now. But we need the help of the Incarnation of Death to untangle this problem."

Harry was rather confused, but thought he'd followed most of that. "So what do you need me to do?"

Lachesis smiled, "You have the soul of Tom Riddle residing inside you, do you not?"

He frowned back at her, "I was his last Horcrux and he is insistent upon staying."

"Ah, but you know how to get a soul out of the body now don't you Thanatos?" Orb asked him conspiratorially.

Harry wanted to smack himself in the head, but thought that might seem rather immature in the presence of these four goddesses. Instead, he reached up toward his scar and dug his fingers through his forehead, it was a rather...uncomfortable process. He was a bit worried about pulling his own soul from his body but once he grabbed hold, he knew it was the right soul. Tom Riddle began screaming inside his head.

"Alright Tom, you old wanker! Get. Out. Of. My. HEAD!" Harry said as he pulled and the black and battered soul of Tom Marvollo Riddle slid out of him and into his hand, going silent as it fluttered into stillness. He looked at Fate, "So...what do I do with it?"

She smiled, "I do believe that soul is dark enough to find it's own way to Hell Harry."

Harry let Tom's soul go and watched as it sank directly through the floor and out of sight. Lachesis brought out a pair of scissors and snipped the silver thread at that point, he watched as the rest of the tapestry seemed to realign itself neatly.

"Thank you so much Harry! That bugger has been annoying me for the last 50 years!"

Harry found himself laughing...he suddenly felt...free for the first time he could ever remember. "It was my pleasure, I promise...so is he really gone?"

The television flipped itself on to reveal the red-skinned and horned face of Evil, "Harry! Well done! I've been waiting for this soul for a long time!" The camera panned back to show him holding a struggling Tom Riddle by the ear. "Don't worry Harry, there is a special place in Hell for people like him. You are welcome to come visit anytime you want and see his punishment for yourself. I'm not sure there is anything you could think of that I already haven't, but Hey! I'm always up for a brainstorming session."

"Pyra, you know you aren't supposed to just drop in like this." Orb chided the man.

"Now Gaea, I am only following your mothers example." Naomi blushed but looked angry with him,

"Listen here Pyra, I was trying to locate my daughter, she just happened to be in his living room!"

The devil shrugged it off, "Yes but at least all Harry has to do to get rid of me is turn off the television set."

Harry did just that, cutting off the personification of evil, before turning back to his guests. "I know that was rude..."

Orb grinned, "I'm sure he was expecting it Harry, and honestly, it was nice of him to show you that your tormentor was now going to be tormented. Parry did well in choosing his replacement, his administration and this one are doing wonders to show that, while it may be his job to attract as many souls as possible away from God, he doesn't have to go easy on them for doing the things that land them in Hell in the first place."

Lachesis nodded, "I have to agree with my daughter dear, while Pyra can be a bit annoying at times, he is leaps and bounds better than some of the previous Evil Incarnations. Much more Lucifer than Beelzebub."

Harry thought he was just getting a handle on things when they started going off on tangents again...he put his head in his hands, "Ladies...this has been very informative but I think I just need more time to process. Do you think we could wait until tomorrow to approach Luna?"

Lachesis grinned, "So you'll help?"

He smiled back, "I think it would be wonderful to have Luna around, she might be able to help me make sense out of all this chaos."

Orb and Naomi stood up and headed toward the front door with Harry following them, "Alright Harry, first thing tomorrow morning?" Naomi asked.

"Promise." he said with a smile.

"I'll make sure my mother knocks this time, of course." Orb said with a grin.

Lachesis scowled at her, "I'm telling you it was an honest mistake!"

Harry watched as the two left arguing before closing the door behind him. He wasn't sure if an Incarnation actually needed sleep, but he could definitely use some peace and quiet. "Jefferson, is there a bed somewhere around here I could fall into?"

Jefferson nodded, "This way sir."

A/N: Yes, I know it was a very wordy chapter, with lots of background info. To be honest if you didn't follow all of it that's okay, it was mostly a nod to those who already know the crossover series and an intro to the nepotism that currently runs through the Incarnations. I didn't even get into God (Natures Daughter, Wars Daughter, Fates Granddaughter, Times Lover (at one...time), Former Evils stepdaughter and the Cousin of Luna Kaftan, The previous Death's wife.)