Chapter One
Hydra Black or Tania Mavros as she knew herself as of this moment was despondent.
It has been six years of constant battle against bipolar disorder and she was tired to the bone. Latest visit to psychiatrist gave her higher dose of medication and suicidal thoughts as a result.
One evening not thinking straight she took all the pills she had and polished it with half a bottle of vodka. While she was losing consciousness she hoped it was the end of her suffering.
However after some time of balancing precariously on the edge of blackness she felt her body again. She was lying on something cold and very hard. Everything hurt as if she was snowboarding for a week without rest days. She cracked open one eye and saw a white expanse. Nothing more nothing less. Surprisingly there were no panicked thoughts in her head or erratic heartbeat in her chest. All the tension she felt for the last six years vanished. Instead it was calmness and content that flooded her body with clarity in thought that was never available to her before. Keeping it in mind she decided that whatever this place was it was already an improvement from her studio.
Looking around was not easy. All the whiteness surrounding her made her dizzy. Suddenly with a strong gust of wind something black started to emerge. Like a small brush stroke of paint it bled into the white with alarming speed. In a couple of seconds a black hooded figure was standing before her. Edges of the silhouette were mixing with white expanse and created an array of grey around it. Next she noticed her breath in the air. Coldness seeped into her bones. The floor was glistening with freshly formed ice and her lashes were frozen. Dread filled her soul. This was Death. She was sure of it. Now she will die. Despite wanting this for so long it was still terrifying.
They were standing facing each other. Death had a hood on and dark shadows inside did not give anything away. Some time passed. Finally her breath levelled out.
'Hello' was all she said.
It was pretty lame however she made allowances based on the situation. Silence followed. Rattling intakes of breath from the figure were very creepy. A little too late she realised that she enjoyed the situation. Since being a little girl she loved anything supernatural. So finally she plastered a smile on her face and introduced herself to the figure.
'I know who you are, Hydra Peverell Black. You are my chosen'. Her brain was blissfully empty. It was not working that well before so now she guessed she looked absolutely demented. Then finally she figured out it's better to ask questions while she can.
'Who is Hydra Peverell?'
'You of course. And it is Peverell Black. It's important.' the figure rattled. It started to glide towards her, consuming the white around it.
'Why is it important?' Now the grey mass was circling her and creeping up her legs. Finally her heart started to race in her chest. She was frozen watching as grey tendrils crawl all over her legs. They brought a deep cold so much that she did not feel her feet. Rattling noise intensified. That was laughter she realised. Dread filled her soul and she started to shake uncontrollably.
'Relax my child, I am not a threat to you. You are my chosen one. You will bring back glory to the wizarding world. Heal the madness. I saw your deepest desires. To have family, to love and be loved back. To not be bored with your life. You will get it all and some more.'
'Wizarding World as in Harry Potter world?' It can't be, she thought. All those years dreaming of getting the letter. All those fanfictions read and reread. Can it be true? Her breath hitched.
'Yes, those books are not fantasy. They are accurate retelling of the story of one Harry James Potter. However they were never supposed to be written. While Destiny and Time got drunk on ambrosia, Chaos played a prank on the whole world. The war is iminent. The Balance needs to be restored.'
'World War Three?' It has been a very turbulent four years with multiple conflicts around the globe. No wonder that was the first thing she thought of.
'No, the war between muggles and wixen. The Statue of Secrecy will fall and muggles will destroy everything on this planet in order to kill all wixen. Even right now as we speak certain muggles are looking for a way to find wizardkind. Their technology progresses in leaps and bounds. Soon they will succeed.' After that Death fell silent for a bit.
'You will need to stop publication of those books. That is one of the tasks I give you.' She could feel it was getting even colder than before. It gave an impression of building anger inside deity.
'Another task is to change the lives of two people chosen by Lady Magic herself.' Suddenly the cold dissipated. Death conjured two armchairs and flopped down into one with tired huff. The hood went off next. Tania or Hydra was shocked to see the very handsome face of a middle aged man. His nose was that of greek gods and he had black curly hair to his shoulders. The eyes were an ordinary brown colour. It was very disconcerting.
Death waved his hand towards the second armchair asking Tania to sit down. She complied of course. While feeling okay right now the whirlwind of emotions she felt during earlier conversation left her very tired. After that Death produced two glasses out of thin air and a bottle of something that looked like whisky. Pouring some liquid from the bottle to glasses he handed one to Tania in absolute silence.
'This is going to be a very long conversation.' He sipped his drink and fell silent. Tania followed his lead. She was not crazy enough to hurry immortal deity.
'The story starts a long time ago with a person who craved power more than anything else. He was very talented. Best in a long time according to his NEWTs. His name was Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledor. He was in Gryffindor which is a feat in itself. How he did not go to Slytherin will intrigue me till the end of time. He manipulated, compelled, cursed many people to mould the world into his version. He was Headmaster of Hogwarts and is it not the best place of power? Now he had access to young minds and could make them indebted to him from the start.'
'I never liked him, you know. How he treated Harry. Hypocritical bastard.' Tania had so much malice in her voice it was surprising really poison was not dripping from her teeth.
'I am very well aware of that. That's why you are here. I know your fascination with fanfictions which have the roles of the original books reversed. Evil, manipulative Dumbledor versus Good Voldermort that wants to save the Dark. However, you need to know the exact story to prevent it.'
'I don't understand. Prevent what?How? I am dead, remember.' She obviously forgot it was Death with whom she was talking.
'You are dead only if you wish to be. I can send you back. Back to 1979. That year a lot of people died needlessly because of Dumbledor manipulations. You will tell them the truth. You will fix Tom and help young Harry. They are chosen by Lady Magick.'
' Why 1979?' She was confused. If time travel was possible why not go to the time when Dumblefuck was young and do him in.
'I am not Lord Time. I can not send you further. You have connection only to me. Lord Time can not come to you and talk to you. We are very limited in our interactions with mortals. The situation needs to be solved and you are powerful enough. And dead enough to talk to me.'
'How cheerful' Tania said thought it made sense.
'So you're going to send me back with important information and tasks to change the future of Wizarding World, save numerous people's lives, help a child and fix dear Voldie?! Anything else I must do?' she was in disbelief.
'Why yes of course. You need to gather the Deathly Hallows.' Death had an evil smirk on his face. It was so very creepy. She loved it.
'So what about Dumblefuck. Last you said he was Headmaster.' They needed to wrap things up. Tania was tired.
'I can see you are tired so I will give you cliff notes. The details you will discover for yourself. You will need to investigate after all.' Tania groaned and started to pray to Lady Magic for strength.
"Albus to many names Dumbledor used liquid imperious on Grindelwalt to make him Dark Lord. He then used that to gain more power by defeating him. When he met young Riddle he saw an opportunity. New Dark Lord and more power to him. Of course people flocked to him like the sheep they are believing all the vitriol he spewed about Dark magic. Remember Dark does not mean Evil. So he turned a brilliant young man into Voldemort.After some time he procured a fake prophecy and put his next plan into action. Gaining Potter and Black money was just an icing on the cake.'
'What are you talking about? He never got his money.' Actually when she thought about it she had no idea what happened to the wizarding world after the epilogue in the books.
'Yes, you don't know.'
'Are you reading my thoughts?'
'You think too loud' Was all he answered.
'Epilogue was a lie made for you muggles. What happened next is a travesty. All Dark aligned spells and all rituals are forbidden. All traditions are wiped out. Wizarding World is near its end. There is no Balance. Magick will die if Dark is not reborn. One thing was true in the epilogue. Ginevra Weasly married Harrison Potter Black after dosing him with love potions." Death's face was grim. He painted a scary picture.
'So how did they get his money?' Surely they did not just kill him and split the profits.
'They killed him and split the profits. Dumbledore and Weasleys.'
Tania was in deep thought. She thought about everything that was said. Going back to see all of the Blacks alive and well would be fascinating. That brought her to her name. She frowned and turned to Death brows furrowed.
'Why am I Hydra Peverell Black?' It was very strange. Her surname was Mavros which meant Black in Greek.
'You are the bastard child of Marius Black and Irine Peverell who went under different surname of course. Both were squibs. She lived in Russia but was Greek by birth. They met in Saint Petersburg. Had one passionate night and that was it. He went back to England and she went back to her life. Only she was pregnant. And she did not tell him. Couple years after you were born she got sick. She tried to reach Black but she died while on her way. You were adopted. Your magic was blocked beforehand so everybody was none the wiser. All you had on you was a blanket that said Mavros. Black in Greek. She wanted you to be his daughter.' Silence fell again between them. After some time Hydra could focus just on one thing. She had magic.
'I really have magic?" Hydra's heart clenched with so much longing it was scary.
'Yes, I returned it to you. It disappeared after so many years with a block. Now it's back with you.'
"Thank you.' She slumped in her armchair.
'It is time for you to decide if you will follow my plan.' Death was serious. He stood up from chair and was gathering his magic.
'Yes I want to go back. I want to help them.'
'Very well. You can always contact me. Just say my name and I will come to you.' With that she felt an icy gust of wind go through her and that was the last thing she felt before blackness consumed her.