Finding a Place to Call Home
Wanda: And I'm back again! and...yeah, that took forever and day...(ducks a barrage of curses). Okay, I'm really sorry about the scheduled slip. A lot of things have changed for me over the past few months, and it proved difficult to deal with. I'm not officially diagnosed with depression, but it's pretty clear that's the source of the kinds of problems I'm having now. Also, high school really sucks. As in, movies-about-highschool levels of suck. I haven't really been able to write for a while thanks to it. But I've been feeling better the last few days, so I was able to write this. Apologies, that it took this long, but...here you all go! I don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter 11: Angelic Shadows
"Are you my master?"
Harry stared blankly at Death for a long time after she said this. His mind reeled and simply refused to compute with what he was seeing. The feeling of fear and reverence was strong and thudded in his chest like a drum. Almost in a trance, he walked towards the water and stopped when it washed up against his feet. It was like plunging into a freezer.
"Don't come in." Death said softly. Her red eyes pierced him and sent shivers down his spine. "Only the dead stay here."
Hastily, the boy backed up. He stared down into the water. Faces flashed past inside it, of people asleep or afraid appearing and disappearing between the ripples of the waves.
"I...I guess. Are you..."
Harry groped for words, wondering how to address the entity before him. "W-What should I call you?" He asked eventually.
Death tilted her head slightly, her messy hair shifting and falling in front of her face. She looked a little surprised at the question, but also...pleased. "I've had many names over the years...though your ancestor referred to me by one of my older ones. You can call me Hela."
"Hela." Harry repeated softly. "I...well, I have the three Hallows, but I don't think I'm anyone's master."
"I answer to the one who has all three." Hela responded. "No one has succeeded in bringing all three together since your ancestor. Many have tried...but I managed to prevent it. Time and time again."
"Prevent it?" Harry murmured, half to himself, staring back at Hela.
Hela stepped out of the water and onto the beach. Lilith walked up beside Harry – he'd nearly forgotten she was there – watching Hela. There was a spark in her eyes Harry hadn't seen before.
"Yes. Ill health, sudden falls, unlucky encounters...strange things conspire when you try to cheat someone who holds your life in her hand." Hela said quietly.
"...But why did I get them?" Harry asked in bewilderment. "Why let me?"
"Because you were meant to have them." Hela responded. "After your ancestor befriended me on his last days, it was decreed that the most worthy of his descendants would have me as a guardian until the end of his days."
A guardian...? Harry wondered, his mind wandering back to old stories he used to hear about guardian angels who took care of people who were depressed or in hard times. His was the Grim Reaper?
"You would save and change the world in ways you already have and still will. Your destiny is a bright and shining candle in the dark." Hela said.
"...I don't understand." Harry stammered. "You're talking about me...? But why me? I mean, I managed to defeat Voldemort before...but I was just getting lucky mostly!"
"True enough." Hela responded bluntly. "I had to watch over you closely up until now. I protected your life when those oafish relatives tried to snuff it out..." She shook her head. "The number of times I had to intervene was enough to disgust even my Reapers."
"Uncle Vernon would have killed me?" Harry asked, shocked.
"Yes, though in truth, it was your aunt who put your life in danger the most." Hela replied, eyes narrowing and starting to glow ominously. "She worked you to death more then once. I had to stand over your bed night and day to sustain you."
"I...I don't understand." Harry whispered. "I knew she hated me. She always did. But...but how could she hate me enough to want to kill me?"
"Every time she looked at you, she saw a life she thought was meant to be hers." Hela answered him. "It poisoned her, made her bitter and hateful. To the point where she has driven away the very family she sought out as a prize."
Harry thought back to his life at the Dursleys. There were times when he was very young when he thought he might die, shovelling the driveway in the freezing cold or having to walk through darkened alleys to get groceries.
"They have enough negative karma that the Morning Star has set up rooms for them." Hela said tonelessly. "They thought you deserved it...but they'll learn who deserves it soon enough."
Harry closed his eyes as he thought about that. He had been free of the Dursleys for several months now, and it was only in this time that he felt any sort of permanent escape from them. They would finally be punished for hurting him the way they had for so long...
"The last two men who tried have submerged themselves in darkness trying to escape me. But it will be for nought."
"Last...two...you mean Voldemort and Grindelwald." Harry realized. "But...didn't Voldemort do something to break his soul apart?"
"Yes." Hela said coldly. "Now he will have no afterlife to go to because of it. All I need is for you to say the word, and I can destroy his Horcruxes. Grindelwald will pass away soon...I ensured his defeat and drew out his life for as long as a wizard could. He sought powers that didn't belong to him...and now he can spend his last days powerless until his reckoning arrives."
"I...is it really that simple? I mean, I thought Dumbledore..."
Hela made the most human gesture Harry had seen so far. She pressed one hand against her forehead and gave him a look not unsimilar to Astoria's patented 'why-do-you-believe-that' look.
"Albus Dumbledore made an art form out of being an unwitting accomplice to people dying before their lives were fulfilled." Hela said angrily. "Ever since Tom Riddle entered his school. Don't speak to me about Albus Dumbledore, especially after the premature death of your mother."
"What?" Harry asked, eyes wide.
"Lily Evans-Potter was meant for much more then what he allowed her," Hela explained testily. "If he had bothered to tell her about the prophecy that he had known for over a year straight away instead of waiting for a week before Halloween, she would have been able to survive, raise you and do great things. Even telling her a single month before would have made all the difference in her choice of secret-keeper. Instead, her life was cut short long before its prime."
Harry's shoulders started shaking. "Wait...you mean I could have had a mother? All these years...I could have had..."
His vision blurred and became tinted with red. Lilith put a chilly hand on his shoulder. It wasn't as comforting as Astoria; the idea he could have lived with his loving mother, that she was meant to live a long life...and Dumbledore had taken that away from him because he thought 'he knew best'...
"Dumbledore's eventual fate will not be too different from that placed upon Grindelwald." Hela spoke again, sounding calm once more. It was as if she had read his mind.
"Is that all?" Harry asked bitterly.
"That would be enough for me," Lilith said softly. "The one thing I feared the most would be that I would spend my last days locked up and alone...like my grandmother..."
Harry calmed down and took Lilith's hand in a way he hoped was reassuring.
"I cannot cut him short just yet because of the upheaval it would cause. People are too used to depending on him, but that has begun to change. Not to long from now, he will melt into obscurity and spend his last days alone."
Harry let out his breath. "I see." He said. Glancing over at Lilith, he asked, "Speaking of futures, I was told that I'd be the one to wash away the curse the Moon put on Lilith's family. How?"
Hela looked between him and Lilith before saying, "You'll have to go back to the beach where Julian Moon was slain by his own kin. When you arrive there, you'll understand."
"Okay." Harry looked over at Lilith. "As soon as we deal with Voldemort, we're getting on the first train towards your birthplace. I promise."
Lilith smiled hesitantly. It changed her entire face, making her look younger and radiant.
Returning his attention to Hela, Harry asked, "How should we deal with the Horcruxes?"
Hela spread her arms and said, "You are my master, Harry Potter. Give me a command, and it shall be done."
"Okay..." Harry said nervously. "Can you – erm, I command you to destroy the soul containers of Tom Marvalo Riddle and remove him from the mortal plain, so he may never torment another living soul again."
Hela bowed. "As you wish," She whispered before the beach blurred and disappeared.
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Harry reappeared in same room he had been standing in before. Astoria and Daphne gasped in tandem before falling to their knees, while Graham remained standing but watched with wide eyes. Harry looked to his right and saw Hela standing there in her full glory. She looked among his friends, an oddly satisfied expression on his face, before she pulled up a black hood and vanished into shadows.
"That...that...Harry..." Astoria stammered out as Harry reached down and pulled her to her feet.
Harry kissed her on the forehead and said, "It's okay, Tori. Hela isn't going to hurt any of us."
"You really are the master of death..." Daphne whispered.
"Where's she going?" Graham asked curiously, still staring at the spot where Hela had disappeared.
"To deal with Tom Riddle." Harry responded with a smile. "We, on the other hand, are headed out to find the first boat to Denmark."
"Why Denmark?" Graham asked, baffled.
"Because there's a beach we need to go to." Harry responded, turning back towards Lilith. The white-haired girl clasped her hands together and returned the smile just like she had at the crossroads. For the first time, she saw Graham's eyes widen at her expression, and she smiled at him.
Astoria's eyes widened, and she beamed at the three of them. "Harry! Have you figured out how to lift Lilith's curse?"
"As a matter of fact...sort of." Harry responded sheepishly. "Hela told me I needed to go to the beach where the Moon Spirit first cursed the Moon family."
"There's a specific spot, but I know where it is." Lilith added. "I also have a feeling we need to go at night when the moon is full."
"Good thing full moon's in a few days then!" Harry said cheerfully. "Let's get going, everyone."
Daphne nodded. "I think my father knows some of the international travel agents. If we can't find a quick boat, we might be able to portkey. I'll owl him."
"Right. Let's get going." Harry said determinedly.
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Albus Dumbledore had been pacing around the ring, wondering how the stone could have possibly disappeared, when his office suddenly went dark. Quickly drawing his wand, expecting an attack when he came face to face with the phantom.
A young woman, hidden mostly in a pitch black cloak, held one hand out over the ring. Before Albus's stunned eyes, it crumbled into dust, a shrill scream emitting from it. A shade appeared in the air for a moment before the girl's pale hand grabbed it, setting it ablaze. Another moment and all was silent again.
Dumbledore couldn't explain it, but this girl terrified him down to his very bones. He opened his mouth to form a question when the girl pointed a finger at him. Immediately his tongue stilled as though it had stuck to the roof of his mouth.
"Keep your forked tongue between your teeth, snake." The girl snarled. "Your meddling has caused more damage and despair then you could possibly imagine. If your untimely death wouldn't cause much more, I would kill you now."
Dumbledore immediately tried for justification, but his mouth wouldn't obey him. The fact that this girl wouldn't have welcomed his council in any year didn't seem to occur to the old man.
The girl regarded him coldly for a moment before saying, "You were the one who struck down your sister. If you never intended to do such a thing again, you have failed utterly. By your hand, many others have died before their time just like her."
With those words, she was gone.
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Voldemort was sitting at the head chair in Malfoy Manor, a number of his worst death eaters surrounding him. The self-proclaimed most dangerous wizard in the 20th century had been experiencing terrible period pain over the past few hours, and only he knew what it meant – someone was systematically destroying his horcruxes.
He had been furious at first, throwing around Curcios at everyone who was supposed to keep his treasures safe. But as the last one other then Nagini vanished, he started to feel something he hadn't experienced since he first became a wraith.
He was afraid.
Wormtail had realized it; and tried to slowly sneak his way out, find someone else to protect him. He had gotten just past the Malfoy wards when Bellatrix noticed, and brought him back sobbing in pain.
Voldemort had nearly killed him for it, the only thing more humiliating then loosing his horcruxes would be if a man as worthless as Peter Pettigrew just walked away from his services.
Severus Snape was sitting between Lucius and Evan Rosier, wishing once again that he had chosen a different path in life. Dumbledore had told him to keep him informed on Voldemort's movements, but the man's only interests were pursuing the prophecy that had been made about him and Potter. His followers were given free reign as long as they were discreet, and there was nothing Snape could do about that.
The group of dark wizards were all seated at the long table, having eaten their fill, when a dark shadow filled the room. Voldemort felt a sudden icy pit in his stomach; what could have passed through the wards of the Malfoy family? And what in this world could cause him to feel dread?
When it faded, a young black cloaked girl was standing in the centre. She was hardly taller then Draco, but when her eyes swept around the room all levity vanished in an instant.
Lucius gasped while Narcissa fainted dead away. The girl's right hand was rotted and decayed, bone visible as she clutched the wooden shaft of a farmer's scythe. Her eyes glowed a dark red, and the stench of death lay heavy in the air. The atmosphere had grown as tense and grave as an old graveyard.
After a short pause, all the death eaters threw the killing curse at the girl driven by terror. The girl shook her head and waved her left hand, which while clean was paler then any living creature. The green lights diverted from their target and came to form a sphere in her hand.
With a flick of her fingers, every wand in the room turned to ash.
"I see you have eaten your fill." The girl spoke after a moment of stunned silence. "As you ever have. Eating the spirits and the lives of others."
She began to walk down the table towards Voldemort. Her footsteps rang in the silence following the attempted attacks; no one yet had the courage to interrupt her. Nagini hissed and shed away from her. "You have slaughtered and devoured others in a mad scramble for powers that were never meant to be yours." She continued. "You cut lives short in the name of your own power, and you think that you are invincible. Above all powers in the earths."
She came to a stop before Voldemort and regarded him for a moment with contemptuous eyes.
"You have fled from me for too long, Tom Riddle." She stated.
Voldemort's eyes widened, and Severus Snape was greeted by the sight of his supposed lord and master looking afraid. But the fear was fleeting; for whatever else he was Voldemort was ruled by his arrogance.
"Nagini!" He commanded. The snake horcrux shot forward, hissing. Voldemort had a moment to feel triumphant before the girl snorted and swung her scythe. With a flash, the massive snake's head rolled down the table and came to a stop at Draco Malfoy's plate. The boy immediately turned white and then green.
The girl straightened up and let the end of her scythe bang against the table. "The containers of your shredded soul are gone, Riddle."
"That is no longer my name!" Voldemort thundered, whether in false bravado or genuine arrogance Snape could not discern.
The girl's eyes narrowed. "The name you have chosen is an affront to me." A slight smile crossed her face. "Not to mention impossible. You should have taken council, Tom...for none can run from Death."
A wave of fear swept through Severus as he understood what was occurring. He and every death eater was staring Death in the face.
Hela turned towards the end of the table and fixed her eyes upon Bellatrix Lestrange. "Lestrange. You have lived as a mad dog unleashed upon those who couldn't hope to fight you. Now you can die like one."
With a wave of her hand, Bellatrix twisted and shuddered and began howling. Severus watched in awe as the vicious woman transformed into a dog, barking and howling and foaming from the mouth. "You will cry for the mercy you never gave anyone before when you face your death at the hands of muggles." Hela declared. "But you will receive what you have sown."
The dog howled one last time before vanishing, leaving drips of poisoned foam on the floor.
Hela turned to her right, where Wormtail was cowering in his seat. "Pettigrew. You threw your blood brother and his wife before my blade to escape my judgement. You cower behind murders and vermin to save your own skin, to gain things you never could have without them. You were always a rat."
She snapped her fingers. Wormtail twisted and transformed, unwillingly, into his animagus form. "And now everyone will see you for what you really are," Hela stated. Her lip curled into a slight smirk. "A dirty rat with the mind of a man. That is, if you don't get eaten within the day."
The rat squeaked and backed up. Severus stared into those eyes, eyes that still spoke of human intelligence, before being pulled back to the show when Hela's voice demanded attention again.
"Lucius Malfoy." Hela looked down with special contempt upon the cowering pureblood lord, who was looking as though he required a second set of pants. "You incurred a great wrath with the crime you attempted against the Weasely family." She said softly. "So your punishment shall be more severe."
She pointed her scythe at him. "You schemed and tortured and assisted in a planned genocide so your twisted legacy may last forever. But above all else, you nearly robbed Ginerva Weasely of her soul when you handed her that cursed diary. As I speak, you will become a pauper and a begger with no name, who will wander the streets for years and years as the very urchin you despised so. The Malfoy name will vanish from history, remembered by none but a few who will let it fade it nothing."
Lucius let out a horrible scream and attempted to strike Hela with his cane. This proved to be a grave error; when he touched her nearly all the flesh on his right arm rotted away, revealing blood and bone. There was a ripple and a fearsome flash, and the manor was gone. All that remained was the table and an empty plot of land. Lucius's fine robes turned into rags.
Narcissa, who had recovered from her first shock, stared at her husband for a moment. Hela turned her eyes to her, and clenched her free hand into a fist. Then her eyes bugged out, and she collapsed once more. Only this time, she wasn't going to get up.
As a now-beggar fled in shame and horror, leaving his wife's body, Hela turned her attention to the last Malfoy. Draco was sitting next to Narcissa, his eyes glazed over with shock.
"Draco Malfoy." She intoned. "You were born into a life of privilege, and you abused it terribly. You think that your heritage gives you superiority. But...you are also a child." She pointed her finger at him. Draco gasped and clutched at his chest. "Your magic is bound, Draco. You are now a muggle. Live well, and you may earn back what you once had."
Draco, following his mother's example, whitened when he heard his magic was gone. He promptly collapsed in a dead faint. Hela rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the table.
"Yaxley, Rookwood, Rosier...you are thugs who used your strength to assist a genocidal madman. You will spend the rest of your lives just barely clinging to it." Hela set upon them terrible ailments and withered bones; they would just survive long enough to make it to the hospital, where they would remain in limbo until their bodies finally gave out.
And so she continued, until all the death eaters were slain or irrelevant, their magic gone and their fangs ripped out. They would never harm another person, muggle or magical, again.
Finally, only Severus and Voldemort remained. Her scythe beginning to glow an eerie green light, darker even then the avada kedavera, Hela walked back across the table until she was standing in front of Tom Riddle, who for the first time in his life was looking utterly terrified.
"I'M NOT READY!" He shouted desperately as he tried to back away from the approaching spectre. "I'M NOT READY! I WANT MORE TIME! I NEED MORE TIME!"
"You have long forsaken any chance of redemption." Hela said coldly, raising her scythe. "You mutilated your soul in an attempt to hide from me. Now, you do not even have an afterlife to go to – you will be trapped in the sea of crossroads forever."
Hela swung the farmer's blade. The spectral weapon tore Tom Riddle in half; with one final scream he collapsed on the ground, where many rotten hands reached up and pulled him under. Hela watched, unmoved, as the spirit that caused so much destruction finally passed on from the living world.
There was a moment of silence. Severus sat unmoving in his chair, waiting as the Grim Reaper turned around and walked over to him. She stopped and looked down at him with a furrowed brow, tapping the end of her weapon against the the table.
"...You have mixed karma, Severus Snape." She spoke eventually.
"Aren't you going to do away with me?" Severus asked before he could stop himself.
"Do you wish that?" Hela asked mildly, examining him with glowing red eyes. "If you die as you are now, you will not be able to rejoin Lily Evans."
"Of course not." Severus said, the words choking him. "I never could. I was never worth her."
"Perhaps. Perhaps not." Hela answered in a tone the potion's master swore was almost thoughtful. "... But you wish that you could."
"Always. Always." Severus responded fervently.
"..." Hela looked critically at him for a long moment. "Stand up, Severus Snape." He jumped to his feet immediately, heart hammering. Hela pointed to his right arm, the arm that held the dark mark.
"That is the thing that prevents you from reuniting with Lily Evans-Potter." She stated. "This is the mark that claims all the bad deeds you have done over your short and difficult life. However. You are free of your dark master and your evil father, and I say to you – if you begin to save lives instead of end them, that mark will begin to fade away. One day, if you have finally washed the stain off of your soul, that mark will disappear entirely. Lily Evans-Potter will come to you then, and bear you away to the next world."
"I..." Severus stammered, completely at loss for words. Hela regarded him for a moment longer before turning her back and stepping away.
"My master's order is complete." She said. "I shall see you again at the end of your time, Severus Snape."
With that, Death melted into the shadows, never to be seen by the man seeking redemption until many years later.
Little Whining, Surrey
Petunia stuffy continued to stack the plates from the dinner she had served for her bridge club. The silence in the house stood out to her more then ever now that neither Dudley nor Vernon was there with her. She had figured after a few days she would stop noticing, but it seemed to simply become more oppressive every day.
She wasn't sure what had happened that day. Oh, she was still riding the high of the sympathy she was getting – sympathy for having a brutish husband and a bratty child who didn't return the love that she had shown him over the years – but more and more she was beginning to wonder what she had actually seen that night.
The fact that her son and husband had both preformed magic – supposedly – had been the unwelcome intrusion of a world she had left behind her long ago when she cast her sister away. A world she had been forced to be a part of when her nephew landed on her doorstep, despite the fact it had never welcomed her.
The bitterness she had almost forgotten was now here to stay. To think she had married a magical man without realizing it...Petunia could hear Lily laughing at her. He had lied to her about being normal, when that was all she wanted in the entire world.
But what about what Dudley wanted? A small voice was nagging at her now. What about what Harry wanted? Doesn't that matter?
Petunia scraped angrily at a particularly greasy pan. No matter how many times she wondered this question at night, she would look at Harry and see the green eyes of the girl who had gotten everything someone could want while she got nothing. Lily had been beautiful, intelligent and magical, someone who everyone loved.
Petunia, meanwhile, had gotten nothing, despite being the eldest! Her parents had given Lily all their love, sparing none for her because she hadn't been the right kind of special.
She had thought she'd finally gotten over that when she left that cursed house...when she had met Vernon. He had made her feel special, and for once in her life she felt like she had gotten something better then Lily who's husband got her killed.
And now...this. Magic took everything from her.
I should have sent Lily's child away, she thought angrily, no matter what that old coot said. He brought magic into this house, and without him I'm sure I could have gotten what I always wanted.
Petunia let the water drain and placed the last dish in the sink. She turned around and screamed.
A black-clad girl with rotting skin and a farmer's scythe had appeared in her kitchen. The temperature seemed to have dropped twenty degrees and there was a malevolent glow in her eyes. Petunia stumbled back against the counter, jamming her hip, staring in fear at the new arrival.
Petunia, who in childhood had always adored fairy tales, thought that the girl here looked just like the evil fairies she had dreamed of long ago.
"Petunia Evans." The girl stated. Her voice was frigid. "Come with me."
Without waiting, she turned and walked down into the hallway. Trembling, driven by fear and apprehension, Petunia followed her.
The girl walked slowly and came to a stop in front of the boot cupboard that had used to be Harry's sleeping room. Petunia looked between her and the door and choked.
Blood was pooling under the door, spilling out from the inside of the cupboard. It rushed up to the girl's shoes.
"Kinslaying is a very grave sin, Petunia Evans." The girl said coldly.
"How...how dare you accuse me of that..." Petunia whispered fiercely, her hands beginning to shake. "I have never killed..."
"If not for my presence," The girl cut across her, causing Petunia to flinch backwards, "You would have killed your own nephew. Worked him to death at the tender age of six."
Petunia gaped at her. The girl merely looked at the door. Petunia followed her eyes as the door opened. A howling bizzard was rolling by, even though it was March and the weather had begun to warm up. Harry, skinny and small and utterly dwarfed by the bags he was carrying, carefully set them down by the foyer and limped towards the cupboard.
Petunia's lips parted. She remembered this. She had forgotten several of Dudley's presents one Christmas, but she had been waiting for Vernon to finish at work so they could get the last one together. She had ordered Harry to pick up the ones she had mail-ordered.
Little Harry was frostbitten and crying silently. A thick trail of blood followed him from the door, and when Petunia got a closer look she realized a large piece of glass had torn straight through his old, shabby boots and pierced his foot. The boy stumbled into his cupboard and collapsed, breathing faintly.
After a few moments, Petunia saw a reflection of the girl standing in front of her appear at his bedside. She waved a hand, and the bloody glass slipped onto the ground. The bleeding stopped. The girl lightly touched Harry's face and disappeared.
The image faded. The girl turned back to face Petunia fully, eyes glowing a dark red. Low light illuminated part of her face, which was paler then snow and full of cold anger.
"What mother sends a child out into that kind of weather, with nothing but her brutish son's leftover clothes?" She asked coldly.
"That was not my fault!" Petunia cried. "Those were perfectly good boots! He just wasn't being careful, he never was!"
"Oh?" The girl responded, her eyes darkening further. "How about the time you sent him away to find a wrench when the car broke down on the wrong side of town? He never would have escaped the scrapyard if I hadn't intervened."
"I couldn't have known-"
"Yes you could have." The girl interrupted. "You never fed him well, never clothed him with anything other then your son's scraps, never showed him any love despite being of your blood."
"Lily never loved me, she was too special for someone like me." Petunia spat.
"YOU PUSHED HER AWAY!" The girl thundered suddenly, the entire house shaking with the force of her voice. Petunia shrank back against the wall, whimpering. "YOU CURSED HER BECAUSE YOU RESENTED THE FACT YOU DID NOT HAVE MAGIC! THE DIVIDE IN YOUR FAMILY, WHICH CAUSED MISERY AND GRIEF, WAS ENTIRELY BECAUSE OF YOUR SPITE!"
Petunia stammered wordlessly.
"And it wasn't enough that your sister died a hero's death for her son, though she was meant for more," The girl continued coldly, "You had to send her only child to join her for no reason other then your own petty grudge."
She swept her scythe over her shoulder. Petunia flinched. "You will not die," She stated, "Because you did not succeed in killing him. But everyone you meet shall forever know what a bitter, miserable and cruel woman you are." She pointed at Petunia, who shuddered as a silver line appeared on her forehead. "A woman who drove away her muggle husband and son out of paranoia."
Petunia's heart stopped cold.
"Goodbye, Petunia Evans." The girl said, turning away. "Bitterness was your weapon. Now that very bitterness shall be your prison."
And with those words, she disappeared.
End Chapter
(shrugs) Sorry Petunia, I just can't feel sorry for you after what a bitter hag you've been over the course of the books. Astoria gave you some comeuppance earlier, but now it has come full circle.
The reason Lucius Malfoy is in extra trouble over what he did to Ginny is because my headcannon is that the diary would have turned her soul into life energy for Riddle and basically consumed it, destroying her very identity. Since Hela takes her job seriously and is the one who makes sure that all souls reach the crossroads and pass on, she took that personally.
Next time, we deal with Lilith's curse and head for Australia again! Also, Tori writes a book on having a Reaper as a roommate.