Harry was at his breaking point with his wife. All she wanted to do was to spend every galleon he had on lavish parties, expensive clothes, and ludicrous jewelry. He had been ready to settle down for several years now and have at least two kids. A family had always been his desire in life. At least that is what the mirror of Erised showed him all those decades ago in his first year. However, anytime he would mention kids, Ginny always had an excuse. Lately. It was that she didn't want to lose her figure. Yet Harry failed to see what she meant by that statement.
In the first years of their marriage, it was great. Ginny talked about kids but wanted to wait a bit. At first, Harry understood, but now it felt as though she lied to cash in on his fame and fortune. She gushed at the mere mention of her name in even the tiniest of newspaper articles. Her mother was no better, always pushing for her to get a bigger mention any way possible. Harry didn't think that the Weasley women wanted him to hear the conversation from that night but he did and it caused a rift in his heart. It felt like his Hogwarts days all over again when Dumbledore would feed him tiny bits of information to keep him quiet and under control. He decided a vacation from her was needed and soon. First, he wanted to talk to his best friend since he knew she was at the end of her rope as well as with Ron.
She had recently caught Ron with his pants down, quite literally, with several slags of the worst sort. All he did when she caught him was to shrug his shoulders as he continued to bugger the bint. She fired a hex at his bits and left quickly. Hermione tried to forgive the git, but he felt no remorse for his blatant cheating. She had begun packing her belongings up and moved into the spare room at the twin's flat until she could find a more permanent option. Harry thought it was funny especially when Mrs. Weasley found out about the arrangement. She turned tomato red from her roots to her toes then went on to call Hermione a two-timing slag who would open her legs for anything with a dick.
Hermione was eerily calm and pulled her wand, Molly flinched but relaxed when she placed the wand to her temple pulling a blue wisp of a memory. Hermione then projected the evidence of Ron's adultery for all to see on the side of the Burrow. The callous attitude he displayed was a shock to everyone present. Mrs. Weasley gasped before deftly closing her mouth. She then used the floo to go to her son's home and hexed him with all she had. She came back and apologized profusely. Hermione nodded her head and decided it was time for her to get away for a bit to clear her head.
Hermione and Harry spoke not long after they left the Burrow. They decided that a long vacation as far away as possible was the best thing for them both. Hermione booked them a flight to LAX. It was better to travel the muggle way; it made it easier for them to hide and harder to track by the people they were running from. They left on the first flight out. It was ultimately uneventful, which both of them appreciated in life after the life they lived.
Before the pair knew it they were in sunny Los Angeles. The temperature difference immediately caused them to sweat profusely. They quickly made their way through customs, grabbed their luggage, and hailed a cab to the hotel Hermione booked the night before. She was even able to get adjoining rooms that allowed them to stay close but afforded a slight amount of privacy. After they settled into their subsequent rooms they showered away the feeling of travel. Hermione dressed in a petite red dress and gold heels, while she was trying to reign in her curls there was a knock at her door. She answered it to see Harry dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt, something he loved wearing since his teenage years. She wrinkled her nose.
" Do you want to change into something more fun? The concierge recommended a nearby club. Do you want to head there and just enjoy a night of mindless dancing?" Hermione asked with a smile. Harry's reply was to rush back to his room and put on a smart green shirt and dark jeans with black loafers. He came back and Hermione nodded her approval. She always thought that shirt brought out the striking green of his eyes.
They exited the hotel together as Hermione hailed a taxi. Hermione gave the name of the club to the driver he nodded knowing exactly the place she was referring to. Harry blinked and before he knew it they had arrived at a colorful building with the word Lux in bright lights. He wanted to chuckle slightly at the use of Latin. He then saw the line was wrapped around the building and he balked at the sight. Yet, Hermione pulled him from the taxi nonetheless. As they were making their way to the end of the line the bouncer for the club looked towards them.
"Harry Potter?! And the illustrious Hermione Granger. Come here you two don't have to stand in line," the man shouted. The two exchanged a look as if they were deers in a car's headlight. They slowly approached the bouncer.
"How do you know who we are?" Hermione cautiously asked, " We didn't know we would run into anyone who could possibly recognize us here."
" I recognized the scar on Harry's forehead. Not many people have a scar that unique. I'm James by the way," the man replied quickly. Harry sheepish as ever looked away. He despised the fact that he was still so easily known all these years after the war. To save face the bouncer waved them on in and gave them VIP status.
"If anyone asks who gave them to you just give them my name. Okay?" James replied as the pair entered the posh establishment. It was a shock for them to enter and hear a piano being played. Along with the music was a somber, angelic voice singing. His voice caused Harry and Hermione to be enraptured by the emotions behind the lyrics. It was a song that was timeless. The man sang a slower version of Bohemian Rhapsody with such conviction that it was almost as if he lived the song in his life. He was so heartfelt that the tenor of his notes hit Hermione to the core of her heart. Even Harry felt compassion for this man and he didn't even know his name or story. As the last note rang out it felt as if the trance over them slowly dissipated. They were brought back to reality as the man took a long sip from the honey-colored whiskey in his glass. They watched as he sashayed to a nearby booth to lounge leisurely. Harry and Hermione walked over to give their compliments to the enigmatic man. Hermione cleared her throat as the man looked up with dark chocolate brown eyes. She gulped as she felt the power that rolled off of him in waves. She took a minute step back as it nearly knocked her backward into Harry. Harry could feel it as well; it was extremely unsettling. He felt a resonate darkness in this man; he bristled at the memory of his past of dealing with evil.
"How may I help you my dear?" he almost purred in a British accent. The pair looked at each other wondering if this man was a wizard who slipped away during the war.
"Of course, my name is Hermione and this is Harry. We just wanted to tell you that your voice was hauntingly beautiful," she replied. The man smiled then it faltered slightly as he realized that she had a strange aura surrounding her and the man with her.
"Lucifer Morningstar at your service my dear," he went to shake her hand and noticed the VIP band," How did you get one of Lux's exclusive VIP bands?" he inquired.
"The bouncer, James, gave them to us. He said if anyone had a question about them to speak to him," she primly replied. Lucifer was enjoying the fire in her voice. He also liked that she didn't seem to bow to his voice like most women and men.
"He did, did he well James is not one to just hand those bands to just anyone. Does he know you or something?" Lucifer questioned.
"Something like that," Hermione shot back all too quickly. Lucifer was instantly intrigued by her vague answer.
He looked at her and asked," What is it that you truly desire?" Hermione could feel a strange presence in her mind almost as if he was trying to control her. She reinforced her shields pushing the intrusion from her mind. She gave Harry a quizzical look. Lucifer's smirk faded. There was only one human who couldn't be affected by his powers and that was his partner at the LAPD, Detective Chloe Decker. His curiosity was increasing by the second. He quit using his devil look. Lucifer swore he saw them share a knowing look but it happened too quickly to be certain. Hermione took the opportunity to drag Harry onto the dance floor where they stayed for a few hours. Time passed quickly as they were lost in the beat of the music.
Before either realized it the last call was yelled out, they went to the bar and ordered a couple of shots of whiskey each downing them and taking their leave. The night air was crisp with a slight breeze hinting at the looming autumn season. They hailed a taxi to take them back to the hotel. The pair went back to their respective rooms after saying goodnight. Soon they were sound asleep, exhausted from traveling and a night of dancing.
Lucifer was perplexed by Harry and Hermione; they were vague and defensive also the way they were able to keep him from getting any type of response with his dad given powers. After the club closed Lucifer was upstairs pacing in his penthouse. He wanted information and when he wanted something he got it. Thinking back to the brief interaction with Hermione and Harry, he noticed that Harry grabbed a lightning bolt-shaped that was hidden by his hairline on his forehead. It was almost familiar but he couldn't remember what it was from. He decided to try a different avenue for information so he dialed James' number. All James would give him in regards to the pair were their full names and where they were from. However, to his displeasure, James told Lucifer he was unable to divulge more information since they were extremely private people. He was respecting them, he did say that the pair were well known in their community and several communities worldwide.
After that unsatisfying conversation, Lucifer called his favorite demon, Mazikeen, she was eager to travel on a mission since the monotony of being a part-time bartender at Lux. She found their current location quickly at a nearby hotel. After that, she began to research them. There wasn't much she could find in public records. They disappeared from the record in 1991.
All she could dig up on Harry was his birth certificate and the death of his parents in the early 1980s and his placement with his aunt's family. His school records showed a weird pattern: he would do good in a subject but not long after he would begin failing but all his tests showed that he knew the material well. Then she dug further and found several reports of suspected abuse towards Harry but no follow-ups could be found to verify the allegations. The few pictures she could find showed a young boy who was small, almost waif-like in clothes that looked like a dress on him. His eyes were downcast, he appeared scared to look up and acknowledge anyone. She felt like punishing someone she wondered if she would get the person who did this to him as a child as her assigned tortured soul. It would have to wait a bit as she had to continue her research into Hermione Granger.
There was just a slight bit more information to be found on Hermione. She had dentists for parents who worked way too much. She seemed to be a bright child who had a lonely childhood but she was unable to find any more school records on her after early 1991. Then, in 1997 Hermione's parents suddenly left England and moved to distant Australia. She found out that their names were changed during their move and she could not find Hermione to be living with them. After that, the only information she could see was Hermione's passport to travel to America a week prior. After hitting that roadblock she began traveling around parts of England. She found a few weird names in her search first was Diagon Alley. She tried to find it, however, when she neared the possible location she was overcome by a terrible need to flee in terror. Mazikeen didn't flee, she caused the fleeing. The second location was Harry's address or lack thereof. Number 12 and 14 Grimmauld place were there but the harder she looked between the houses the more her head began to pound and the feeling of needing to flee returned.
At this point, she needed to inform Lucifer of the information she could find. She wasn't looking forward to the upcoming conversation but it was part of working for the king of Hell. She sighed knowing the faster she ripped off the bandaid the faster she could get the punishment, that was waiting for her in LA, over with quickly. She opened her phone and dialed Lucier's number it rang for just a moment before he answered.
"What have you been able to discover about our vague patrons Mazikeen?" he asked impatiently.
"I was only able to find a small amount of information on either of them, there is little to no records of them after 1991. It is as if they disappeared off the face of the earth not long after they turned 11 years old," Mazikeen answered hesitantly. She could feel his anger at the lack of information from her search in England. He let out a large strangled breath before ending the call without a further word. Mazikeen breathed a slight breath of relief. She felt that on her return home more would be said or punishments handed out.
Then she received a text from Lucifer insinuating that she had her head too far up her own ass to find out the information he wanted her to find. She was sidetracked by the text he was never this calm it was not in Lucifer's modus operandi to be so calm on a normal day. These people had Lucifer on the edge.
Lucifer's thoughts were in another time altogether. The answer was on the tip of his tongue, a while ago several decades prior actually, he had a large influx of souls come to his domain. They were not his typical run-of-the-mill types, their hells made no sense to him at the time. Much of their speech was in Latin with bright flashing lights. The people who were touched by the lights were devastating sights to see. One woman exploded from her chest. In another hell, children were floating in the air before being set on fire and ripped to shreds. The carnage he witnessed was beyond disturbing and he had witnessed some of the most prolific serial killers in history.
Thinking back to that time Lucifer's memory was jogged. He remembered a particularly mangled soul, it appeared to have been shredded. He shivered at the memory of that personal hell, Tom Riddle was the name.. There were bright beams of green light and a man then a woman fell to the floor dead then he directed the same beam at a young dark-haired child but it ricocheted and hit Tom square in the chest. Tom screamed in anger at the young child defeating the so-called. "Dark Lord", Lucifer thought it was strange at the time but brushed it off as a delusion of a deranged soul. He decided to call Mazikeen since he remembered that she used to be the demon in charge of Tom's hell for a time.
"Mazikeen, do you remember when you were in Tom Riddle's hell? Do you recall anything specific at all about it?" Lucifer asked. Mazikeen thought about it for a moment.
"Yes, actually, he constantly ended with shouting his revenge on the child, Harry Potter is the name he would yell," she answered. Lucifer rubbed his chin in contemplation.
"Thanks, Mazikeen. Maybe your head isn't as far up your ass as I've implied in the past," he begrudgingly apologized in the only way the ruler of Hell could. Lucifer hung up and thought for a time of certain similarities between this man's hell and the name of the Harry Potter mentioned. He pondered upon the coincidences surrounding these newcomers. His thoughts took hold and before he realized it the morning sun was shining in through the bedroom windows.