Harry had slipped. He had slipped and he had made a mistake. A huge, idiotic mistake which could probably end the world. And considering why he was here, he wasn't even exaggerating. Ha! Take that 'Mione and her 'You're always so dramatic Harry!'
He had been enjoying time with his family so much, that he had been…procrastinating his original reason for having this life.
He had been thinking that he had more time, that he could enjoy time with his family more, yet the argument that Dumbledore and Sirius had had on the twins' birthday had splashed water all over his face. Especially when he had found out what it had been about.
The day after the birthday Harry had tried to get his parents and godparents to divulge to him what had led to Albus and Sirius arguing the twins' birthday. Unfortunately he was still 5 in body and no adult in their right mind would involve a toddler in politics. He very nearly even threw a tantrum at the 'injustice' of it. Yet, he was after all in his mid twenties mentally. Probably, he wasn't sure.
Meh. Not like he cared. He had never thrown a tantrum before and he wouldn't now. It just wasn't in him. His siblings though were another story completely. But that was a story for another time. His eyes tracked the floating lights across his ceiling, sleep evading him as his mind went over the problem.
So. So now here he was. A not-quite-five-not-quite-twenty year old, who needed to reset the world yet had no means to do it. And his parent's wouldn't tell him anything because again he was a child to them. His only option would be to somehow sneak out and find out the information, yet even that was impossible with how big on security his family was. He scowled slightly wondering if he could somehow contact Evangeline to discuss this problem. It would be easier for him to contact Death, he could always feel the entity in the back of his mind, yet he did not want to disturb the all powerful, world-ending being unless it was a last resort. Death was well…death and even though he was assured he had some favour with the entity he wasn't sure how they would react to being summoned by a human. Besides Evangeline had appeared to him in his dreams which means he should be able to do the same. She had explained the theory to him once a while back, but he hadn't actually tried it till now.
Resolving to try to solve this one way or another, Harry stubbornly closed his eyes, willing his mind to quiet down and go to sleep, and since the only thing greater than his ever running mind was his stubbornness, he actually did end up falling asleep.
As his eyes closed in the physical, mortal realm, his soul woke up in a house, a house which he had never been in before. It was cosy and warm, with beautiful blue walls and soft rose wood accents. But his attention was immediately drawn to the girl beside him, his melancholic struck counterpart whose very face was the picture of sorrow and longing. Following her line of sight he silently observed the family in front of them. Two men were lounging on the sofa, cuddling while they looked lovingly as the pre-teen in front of them spoke something in animated tones with vivid hand gestures. One of the men and the child shared the same sharp features, the same too sharp features he saw in Evangeline.
"Evangeline?" Harry asked hesitatingly. The white haired girl startled before turning around, their surrounding fading off into the dust revealing a rolling white platform, the same platform that they had met the first time.
"Harry!" She exclaimed startled, her eyes darted to their fading surroundings before her longing was hidden away and she focused on Harry.
"Is everything alright?" She asked in the same pleasant tone she always used. Harry hesitated slightly, wondering if he should ask her about their previous surroundings, about the people who held obvious relation to her. Her faux-relaxed posture strained imperceptibly and her smile began to slip under the strain.
Harry shook his head in negativity in relation to her question before posing his own. "Are you alright?" He moved a little towards, wanting to comfort her as she had done for him so long ago.
"Yeah."She said softly as her smile changed into something a bit more real.
"Yes I'm fine, or I will be." She shook her head before shifting attention back to Harry.
"You finally figured out how to pull us into your limbo!" She enthused with a cheerful smile.
"Yeah, it was pretty simple, just as you said. Just close my eyes and pull some of my 'death' and think of you." Evangeline nodded in tandem with his words. "Yes, in the starting it will take a bit of concentration but the more used to my magic you become, the easier it will be, you will even be able to call me if you're awake then!"
"That would be useful." Harry said as he observed her, it didn't escape his notice that she had mentioned Harry calling on her but not her calling on Harry. He dismissed it for now, she wouldn't answer him.
"So is there anything in particular you wanted to talk about? Or did you just want to practise?"
"No, I need your help, or advice at least." Evangeline cocked her head in question as they both settled onto the bench which had materialised beneath them.
"While I love being with my family, there is the fact that at least to their minds, I am a child so there is no way they will tell me what is going on and I can't even sneak away because they are so big on security." He huffed out. A part of him which craved his old, adult independence chafed at all the rules he had to follow now. But that part was buried underneath all his love and joy at having a normal childhood, of having a family.
A slight smile tinged her face. "Yes I suppose having to go from being an adult to a toddler suddenly would be rather…difficult. Why do you not ask your grim reapers to keep tabs?"
Harry frowned in confusion. "My what?" He asked bewildered.
"Your grim reapers." Evangeline said slowly. Her head tilted as a frown marred her face.
"Did you not meet them yet?"
"Meet who? What do you mean by your grim reapers?" Harry demanded in confusion.
"The grim reapers, well technically they aren't really grim reapers, it's just what Death has been calling them, his idea of a joke really, are souls which haven't earned the right to be reborn. They just float around in the veil observing humanity until they repent, but now that there is an active Master of Death they will be bound to obey you."
"Isn't that practically slavery? Plus won't they cause trouble if they are grim reapers because they were trouble when they were alive?" Harry enquired, his sour face indicating that the idea of having souls 'serve' him as punishment really wasn't to his tastes, even if said souls were 'bad' souls.
Evangeline shook her head, white hair displacing over her shoulders. "Not really, you are not forcing them to be grim reapers, you do not even have the powers or jurisdiction to decide if they will be grim reapers, only Death does. But they will allow you to make use of them. They do not have their memories. All they know is that they made some mistakes while they were alive and the only way forward for them is to repent."
Harry considered this, weighing the pros and cons of it. A rueful smile crossed his face, oh if only Ron and Hermione could see him now, they would have blanched at the fact that he was even considering this. Maybe before the war they might have tried to talk him out of it, Hermione pointing out how like slavery it was, and Ron vehemently arguing that bad people didn't change. But the war had changed all of them, mostly Harry. He had doled out the Unforgivables as if they were free candy, the side of him that he had suppressed throughout his Hogwarts years, the analytical ruthless side coming out and being honed into a sharper weapon on the stone of necessity.
"What if someone suddenly attains their redemption while they are doing something for me?" He knew he had already decided on using the grim reapers, he was just making excuses.
"You will know when one is nearing the end of their sentence, and in case they are in the middle of something for you they will move once that is over." Harry nodded his head. Tentative plans are already forming in his mind. He wasn't a slytherin, he wasn't used to creating plans or following them, he couldn't see patterns. But, but, he was being raised by Lily and James Potter. Lily who would, could and did drench her hands in blood with strategic precision to save her husband. James Potter who for all his gryffindor brashness and arrogance had plans upon plans running in his mind 24/7. His godfather was Sirius Black who, for disavowing his family quite publicly, had never bothered to disavow their ruthlessness, their pragmatism when dealing with threats. And he had initially grown up with the Dursleys. A place where he had to lie, steal, cheat and sneak just to survive. He may be rewriting and healing from his past life, but he didn't forget. The lessons he had been forced to learn in his past that had forged him into the perfect weapon against Voldemort and the lessons his true family were imparting on him deliberately and subconsciously were making him into someone new, someone who could see the value in having a spy network. He still had a few things to sort out, mainly how they could spy, if they could be deterred by anything etc but he would get there.
Planning to cover all his bases before he even began his spy network, he sat about talking with Evangeline and planning to come up with the key players in his economy, the ones he needed to keep an eye on to find out what had been happening and to plan for it.
Hi I'm sorry for the extremely delayed update but I keep getting distracted and it's been a bit hard to create chapters which are set ups for future plots. Anyway how do we feel about getting a little background on Evangeline?