So I would've had this out sooner (heck, it was finished when I posted Antioch), but I decided to read other Cadmus fanfictions to see if I was on track with his personality. And I'm glad I did.

Enjoy!

He forced himself to wait, wait until he arrived at his house, before pulling out the mysterious stone Death bestowed upon him.

Small and obsidian, a casual observer might find it odd that a wizard traveled with such a rock in his robes.

But Cadmus Peverell knew better.

The power to recall the dead was cupped in his hand. Memories of his lost love, Ilene, flooded back, warming him to his very soul. He carefully turned the tiny stone three times before letting it settle in his suddenly clammy palm, looking decidedly more ordinary than before.

"I've been cheated." Angrily, Cadmus balled the fist with the stone inside, shaking in rage. "I ought to-" But whatever it was Cadmus intended to do, he never said as a soft, melodious voice, accompanied by a hollow echo, filled the room.

"Cadmus." He quickly turned to the source.

A lanky woman stood before him. Blond curls framed her rosy cheeks, green eyes danced playfully, and a small smile lit up the woman's face.

"Ilene." Cadmus's anger vanished instantly, as his fiancee's presence always managed to do. "It's wonderful to see you again." He reached out to hug her, and was somewhat surprised to find he could touch Ilene. However, he noticed that she was cold, as if she'd just come in from a snowstorm.

"What am I doing here?" Ilene asked. Her voice, in contrast to her appearance before the fatal pox, was melancholy and full of misery. Her facial expression was that of one who emerged into the sunlight after being in total darkness.

"I have brought you back from the dead! I escaped the clutches of Death himself! He gave me one wish and I used it to request that I be given the power to bring back the deceased," he explained, holding out the stone. Forget his brothers and their invincible wand and cloak of invisibility. Death had granted the better man the better wish.

"Your efforts are in vain, as I am better off where I was previously: on the other side."

Startled at her words, Cadmus dropped the stone. Ilene vanished just as quickly as she appeared. Her words, however, resounded in his head as he picked up the stone and turned it three times again. She'd rather be dead than with him, her fiancée, the love of her life?

Surely, he had done something wrong when he summoned Ilene. Maybe if he tried again, she'd come back completely.

"Why am I back here, amongst the living?" Ilene offered as way of greeting. "It hurts, Cadmus. It burns me."

"It is as I told you, Ilene," Cadmus replied, fingering his stone. "I have cheated Death, and have been well rewarded for my efforts. You are not happy for me?"

"I do not truly belong here, in the world of the living. It hurts me, as if you were to try breathing underwater."

"You are wrong, Ilene. You belong with me. With a happy life away from Death."

"It is you who is wrong, Cadmus. You touched me; you see I have no true form. Neither that of a human nor of a ghost. You do more harm to me when you summon me."

Was it true? His newfound power had limits? Ilene could not come back, not entirely, not truly? It felt as though they were separated by a transparent wall. They could talk, interact, but in the end, even those luxuries were limited in comparison to talking with only air in between them.

"If I am truly the cause of your pain, then you'll have no qualms about me destroying that which assisted me," Cadmus said angrily.

"Cad-" Ilene began with that sweet, yet mysterious voice of hers, but she vanished as the stone again fell out of Cadmus's hand and onto the table.

So that was that. Ilene had been right about one thing: he should not have been so caught up in his own desires that he'd blindly trust Death.

"The power to leave without being followed by Death, little brother? Ha! I could easily beat Death with this new wand of mine!" Antioch's haughty voice scattered Cadmus's thoughts of finally being able to see Ilene again. "Your request was ill spent, I'm afraid."

Ignotus, who was now a floating head wrapped in his new cloak of invisibility around himself, replied: "It is not always brute force that wins battles, older brother. One must also use his wits to overcome obstacles."

"And your wits were less than sharp, Ignotus," Cadmus countered, and he and Antioch laughed. "My choice was the wisest, as I can now bring back souls from Death's clutches! That takes some extremely complex magic!"

Cadmus fetched a rope from inside a cupboard. He fingered it carefully, letting the sharp bristles poke his hands. Strangely, the miniscule pricks soothed him as more revelations flooded his head, making it spin. Ilene was really gone. Ignotus's choice had been the wisest of his brothers. There were plenty of other women out there.

But the one I love is gone, Cadmus thought, throwing the rope over a beam and securing it tightly. He stepped up on a chair, making sure there was enough slack to grant him a quick demise.

He wondered if it would have been better to just have attempted to cross the river. Would it have been easier, less painless to risk meeting Death instead of enchanting that bridge to appear? It might've been even painless, contrary to what dampening thoughts ran through Cadmus's head as he carefully tied the end of the rope around his neck, pulling it snug.

He had been a fool to think he had beaten Death. In reality, he thought, Death had all the cards, and he had played right into his downfall.

Cadmus took one last look around his home. It stopped being his home when Ilene succumbed to the plague. Without her lovely presence, it didn't quite feel the same to him.

Satisfied the rope fit around his neck, Cadmus carefully reached for the stone that caused all his misery and once again summoned Ilene.

"Cadmus, I can't bear it anymore. The pain-"

"Will be a mere memory shortly. I will see you soon, my love." Dropping the stone, he watched sadly as Ilene vanished.

There really is no escaping Death, Cadmus told himself, jumping off the chair and allowing his neck to take up his weight. It would be the most agonizing five minutes he'd ever experienced, but seeing Death's empty eye sockets and grinning skeletal teeth right before everything went black made everything more bearable. It meant peace. It meant reunion. It meant compensation.

And so Death took the second brother for his own.