Disclaimer:

I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...

Mischief Managed Damn It!

Title: The Potter's Rewind / Chapter 2 (Working Title)

Posted Date: January 19 2025

Challenge: KGFinkel Challenge / Reptilia28's 'Don't Fear the Reaper Challenge'

Tags: James / Lily

Possible Challenges: Fake Prophecy, Snape Redemption, Pettigrew Redemption

Possible Pairings: James / Lily

Tropes not to be used: Bad Potters, Harry fighting Voldemort

The Grim Reaper called Gary raised his arm to knock on the door, each knock sounding like he was banging a war drum against the dark wood. "Hey Boss, I got the Potters that you requested for a meeting!"

"Send them in."

The door slowly opened inwards with mist coming out from the bottom, making the Potters shiver at both the effect and the chills going down their spines. Gary however gave the impression he was rolling his eyes with how his head and the glowing orbs moved. "Boss really likes his dramatics, don't be too alarmed about him. Just make sure to be respectful." He pushed the door further and walked right in, with the Potters following shortly after and then jumped at the sudden slamming. "Sorry about that, the door is temperamental."

The Potters had to take his word for it. They were more distracted by the room painted light grey walls that served as a stark contrast to the dark figure at the end of the room. He was certainly a lot bigger than Gary, perhaps three times as such, and unlike him, he had a crown like decoration that was more of a helmet that fitted his head. It just made the glowing eyes particularly prominent through the eye holes that had the Potters straightening their backs instinctively.

"Hey Boss!" In contrast, Gary just walked right up with a wave and without a care that he was being quite carefree in front of the persona of Death. "Here they are, safe and sound."

"I see that. Thank you, Gary." The big guy nodded before focusing his eyes on the Potters. "So, we meet at last."

"Lord Death." James bowed his head deeply with Lily following another.

"Ah, you guys can relax!" Gary merely waved a hand at them, and they were absolutely dumbfounded by how carelessly relaxed the reaper was in front of the actual avatar of death itself. "He may look scary, but he is actually a nice guy, a total softie."

"Gary." Lord Death appeared to heave a sigh while rolling his eyes, an effect that was more frightening with how the glowing eyes narrowed and moved about under the hood. "How are the new souls entering the port?"

"Oh, same old, same old." Gary shrugged. "Most are at least okay after some explanations, then we have the few who were in denial before accepting their ends, and of course we have the odd people who do not want to accept the fact that they were really bad people in their lifetimes. So this is a nice change."

"I see." The being turned to the Potters and gestured to the chairs before him. "Take a seat." The two slowly went to the chairs and sat down with deliberate carefulness. "You may relax, I won't bite you."

"Unless you annoy him like that one guy who mouthed off at him, then you will get bitten. Literally in that case. Boy, that was an episode of epic proportions." Gary shook his head at the memory. James let out a sound that was like a whine from Sirius's in his Grim form, while Lily was hearing the tune associated with the Twilight Zone at the interaction.

"Gary." Death rolled his eyes again. "You two may relax. I just wish for a talk."

"Yes, Lord Death." James bowed deeply to show he was serious about the matter.

"You may refer to me as Thanatos, it is a lot faster to say that especially with what I have to talk to you about." The higher being spoke to them. "Now you are likely wondering why you are here."

"Yes, Lord Thanatos." Lily answered. Thanatos looked at her briefly to make her sweat before shrugging and moved on to the topic.

"Well, to simplify the matter, both of you are here on account of your deaths." Thanatos opened a folder that the Potters only just noticed was on his table, taking the moment to view before continuing. "Specifically, your eighth death."

"Wait, what?" James blinked at that statement. "How can we die eight times?"

"For that, I need to explain a little of our organisational structure." Thanatos raised a bony hand to snap his fingers, making one side of the room glow and change into a whiteboard with words and lines appearing. "For the lack of a better name, let us refer to the organisation as Soul Society. Here, we manage the souls of those who die from a number of reasons ranging from old age to murder. We will check all the souls, weigh them based on their virtues and sins, and then we will send them to their destinations. With me so far?"

The Potters nodded at that. "Now, every so often, something comes up that would influence our processing of souls. It could be the Black Plague, wars, or even something as simple as the birth of 10 children. For the most part, they are quite benign. But one will make things harder to handle." He paused before saying it. "Prophecies."

James and Lily stiffened at the word, both knowing that this was related to their son and why they were here.

"Prophecies, especially those pertaining to disasters, victories or loss of wars, would always involve many souls getting affected. In some cases, they would also be influenced by those in power, be they mortal or otherwise." Thanatos folded his hands. "The Fates have decreed that prophecies need to be fulfilled in their natural states, so as part of the duties involved with Soul Society, we are to ensure the prophecies go through smoothly. That of course means we had to make sure the prophecies are not interfered in some manner. Any questions for now?"

"No, Lord Thanatos." The two answered but their minds were processing the information.

"Now, for the most part, the prophecies go through properly, regardless of the end result. Soul Society is only involved with the rendering and judgement of souls. But there are a few that may have gone badly or not truly fulfilled as they should, which would result in a fair amount of issues with the mortal world and potentially the fabric of life itself. To that end, we have… let's call it a "Reset Button" for a lack of a better description." Thanatos explained while demonstrating what he meant with a cartoonish looking red button appearing in the air. "This will reset the world to a restoration point before the prophecy was fulfilled or even to a point it was created. Now as you can imagine, this is too important to be used carelessly, which is why I am the one responsible for all prophecies ranging from the past to the future."

Lily had a sneaking suspicion on what was actually going on, and James had the same expression.

"In regards to your son, the prophecy in question was one that had great consequences with how it was conceived, and the amount of meddling that went on." Thanatos let out an audible sigh that had smoke coming out of the supposed mouthpiece. "I will say this, it started out as a fake prophecy."

"What?" The two Potters felt both confused and building outrage at those words. Was Death honestly telling them that the prophecy, the one that had them hiding for months and ultimately losing their lives, was a BLOODY FAKE?!

"In the beginning, it was a fake." Thanatos paused as he noted their expressions. "Perhaps it would be easier to show you." He got up from his seat, and it was that act that broke their tempers as they watched with somewhat horrified awe at the height that towered over them and made them feel like ants before a giant boot. James was fairly tall for his age, but Thanatos made him feel like a first year at Hogwarts. "Follow me."

The two Potters nodded and followed the being who seemingly glided on clouds of dark smoke while leaving the office and down a different corridor before stopping at a door. Opening it, they were brought into an empty room with the door shutting behind them. They were briefly in the dark before a bright light came on that almost blinded the Potters. Once their eyes settled, the duo could not help but gasp at the sight of stars that surrounded them. "What is this place?" James whispered as he watched the

"Call it the beginning of everything." Thanatos spoke as lines started to connect with particular dots until it formed what could be described as a sea of giant trees of light that shimmered above them, with separate lights acting as stars. The sight of this made the two Potters feel both insignificant in size but humbled at the same time.

"Everything that comes about in the universe. All life, all souls, and all pertaining to everything in life and death." Thanatos then pointed to a nearby tree that was brought forward to them to show a certain family crest on the tree trunk that James would know very well. "This will be your family tree if you would like to call it. All possibilities that come from the actions and words of your ancestors and future descendents. They can flourish," A shimmering flower was shown to be budding, "or fall to ruin." A sickly looking tree branch broke off near the flower and fell to the ground to disperse into dust. "Everything that has or will happen will be shown here."

"The Potter-verse." James had to quip at that.

"The 'Potter-verse'?" Thanatos paused before shrugging. "Good enough for the explanation."

"Sure about that, Boss? It kind of sounds silly." Gary remarked. Lily privately agreed in amusement.

Thanatos gestured again to superimpose on a leaf that had gold edges with torn parts and a lightning bolt pattern on the top. "This will be your son's origin."

"Why does it look like that?" Lily asked.

"In due time. As spoken earlier, the prophecy that is over your son's head originally started as a fake, engineered by Dumbledore to deal a blow at Voldemort without carrying out the act himself. The idea came to him when the Seer named Trelawney was applying for the Divination post while a man wishing to enter the ranks of the Death Eaters was snooping around." Thanatos started to explain the situation as a window appeared near them to show the situation in question, and James snarled at the sight of Severus Snape snooping around the pub. "He placed her under a spell and reenacted her job interview to give the effect she was giving out a prophecy, and made sure the spy was around to listen to the first half to ensure it would be passed on to Voldemort. His plan was to have Voldemort more focused on chasing you so that there would be fewer attacks on the populace, and if he was lucky, both sides would eliminate each other, and he would take the credit and pick up the pieces for his own fortune." Thanatos paused before continuing. "At least, that would have been the case if Mother Magic had not seen fit to intervene."

"Mother Magic?" Lily sputtered.

"She had seen the blood of her children split between power hungry men who kept trampling on their dreams, and saw a chance to fix the state of Magical Britain. For that to work, she betted on your son, and turned the false prophecy into an actual prophecy." Thanatos reached to tap the main vein of the leaf to show it turning a vibrant green while the window showed the happenings.

"What you are seeing at the moment is how the prophecy SHOULD have been done." A series of images flashed before them, with a boy that had James's looks and Lily's eyes growing up while learning magic, having friends and companions by his side, and then eliminating Voldemort for good. It was fascinating to say the least, and the parents could not be more proud to see their boy in action.

"Well, that looked great." James had to comment.

"But?" Lily on the other hand noted Thanatos's earlier words.

"As I said, that was how the prophecy should have gone. But it has been interfered with a few times. Because of Dumbledore, the Fates, and unfortunately, some of my reapers." His eyes glowed a deep crimson and smoke seemed to come out from the hood. "In the case of my reapers, I do need to apologise. The mess had started with the reaper in charge of your son. He was meant to alert me about the prophecy being made real, but apparently decided on his own that handling your son's case would look good on his resume. And when the prophecy was not fulfilled to expectations, he saw fit to go behind my back and used the temporal reset to try again."

The image of the leaf dimmed until it showed the main vein looking worn out. "The reaper involved tried to play out the prophecy in his own direction, and then the reaper of Dumbledore's soul found out and decided to do the same to ensure Dumbledore would get what he wanted, followed by the Fates who were getting tired of the prophecy being half done before the resets, and finally your reapers who tried to force a better ending for you. As such." The leaf split and grew unevenly, with some parts looking healthy and others sickly. "Your son's timeline is getting distorted."

"Wait, you are saying multiple people like your reapers tried to use this reset button because they want different futures based on your interpretations?" James sounded angry enough to potentially go toe-to-toe with Thanatos, and it was a bit of a struggle for Lily to keep him calm when she was feeling angry herself.

Thanatos nodded, "Unfortunately, that would be a Yes. As you can imagine, this creates a problem. Had your son, with his full magical potential and proper teachings, faced Tom Riddle with his chosen companions, the Dark Lord, his minions, and more importantly the pureblood ideology, would have been eliminated, thus fulfilling the prophecy to the good of the mortals, and helped to usher in the new age of magic that would see the Statute of Secrecy eventually removed and allowing the mundane to mix with the magicals without fear of prosecution." The images on the screen reflect that prediction, and the Potters were pleasantly surprised to see the muggles walking about freely while waving at the odd witch or wizard flying about on their brooms or on carpets, and Hogwarts was shown in all its glory with what appeared to be new buildings around it for different years, making Lily very happy at the inclusion. Then it switched to a home that was warmly and welcoming with a big family in the living room, and it took a few seconds to see them for Lily to squeal happily at the sight of their son all grown up and possibly talking to his children and close relations, while his friends were around watching them with smiles and the women patting their stomachs.

"However, because of Dumbledore's machinations, and the interference of others both mortal and otherwise, the prophecy along with your son's status remain in flux. For most cases, the prophecy would be fulfilled in some form of manner, ranging from your son's death to him surviving but under the shackles of potions. With each reset, circumstances change for certain parts and at times make the outcome worse." Thanatos paused before the screen changed. "The latest reset that brought you two here with me has a fair amount of consequences to say the least." The images settled and both Potters could not help the gasps from their mouths as they saw what could be considered as Hell on Earth. There was not much vegetation and whatever remains of civilization appeared to come out of Tolkien's literature about the land of Mordor. London looked like it had been revisited by the warplanes from World War Two, and Diagon Alley was completely destroyed with Gringotts looking semi intact with the burnt structures.

But the worst had to come at the end where it showed Hogwarts in rubble, and what remained gave a very haunting feeling to the scene featuring the Great Hall opened up to the dreary sky and the people on their knees or bowing to someone sitting in the golden throne that was the headmaster's chair. It was certainly not Albus Dumbledore; this one was a young man with a well built body and dressed in dark clothes in a mix of muggle and wizard robes with a silver cloak draped on him like a cape, with dark hair tied into a ponytail and eyes that glowed the infamous colour of the Killing Curse associated with Voldemort, the right hand handling a wand that emitted power, and the other wielding a gold gauntlet that had coloured jewels glowing on the knuckles and the back of the hand. Worse, it was someone they instinctively knew based on how similar he looked to James.

"Harry?" Lily nearly fell off her seat if not for James who looked ready to do the same.

"In this latest iteration of the reset, too many people had attempted to use or control Harry in different manners, and constantly degraded him while draining the family fortune dry. The populace cannot decide if he is the hero or the upcoming dark lord." Thanatos explained. "His true friends were separated by death, charms, potions or deceit. When the moon child named Luna Lovegood was handed to Voldemort on orders of Dumbledore and subsequently killed, Mister Potter decided that if he was going to be treated as a dark lord, he would demonstrate to them how it would be done properly." The images then changed to show scenes that had Lily and James crying at the scenes of carnage.

"Using his own intelligence that had been suppressed by others, he created a gauntlet that held different aspects of magic which was able to match, and ultimately surpassed the Elder Wand with a snap of the finger. Within a year of him burying the young child and leaving Britain, the British Ministry fell to him, followed shortly by the closer parts of Europe. People attempted to fight back but he eradicated them without hesitation using a mixture of mundane and magical means. Hogwarts fell within a week once he took over Scotland, with Dumbledore's lies and deceit laid out for all to see, and the man begging for the sweet release of death. By which point though, it was too late to beg for forgiveness or mercy, Harry Potter had none for the society that had done so much wrong. He ruled Britain and other parts of Europe with an iron fist, making sure the pure-bloods felt the pain of the muggleborns and half-bloods, along with what he had experienced targeting the Order of the Phoenix." Thanatos hummed. "Funnily enough, the ICW did not really engage him, they watched him while maintaining vigilance. For all of his hate, Harry Potter made sure that there was a genuine government ready to take over because he did not want a repeat of the society that had harmed him and others. He was also very respectful towards me, most versions of him are so with very few exceptions."

"But why?" James asked while supporting his sobbing wife. "How can this happen?"

"The resets are normally meant for world ending catastrophes and are not to be used so loosely or blatantly for selfish reasons." Thanatos growled as the shadows in the room squirmed like snakes, making the Potters lean back. "But the reaper handling your son's case wanted to ensure his personal success despite prophecies being under my authority, so he had played with the resets to try and get the best results without bothering to inform Harry each time he arrived here. That would be bad on their own, but your previous reapers and that of Dumbledore found out and wanted the same deal, and since there were more than two types of resets going on, different conditions started appearing and they affected the timeline negatively to the point the timestream had to split in order to maintain some level of balance."

"Those are major doozies." Gary added in on his part. "I started working around your third reset. That was the reset that had you two alive with Harry, his younger brother and a pair of twin sisters, but Dumbledore charmed the both of you to abandon Harry and the sisters with the Dursleys while spoiling the brother, and at the end of it, said brother ended up being the host for Riddle's soul despite Dumbledore's claims that Harry needed to be dead just so it could complete his vision of Britain. Not helped since Harry went to a different Hogwarts House with a set of abilities that had a lot of people clamouring for his head supposedly for being Dark, along with introducing radical changes to the community and magical knowledge." The head movement suggested that Gary was rolling his eyes at the stupidity. "That version of Harry also got himself disowned to get away from the stupidity of that version of James Potter so that he could protect the sisters. Good thing too since that version of you" Gary pointed a finger at James "had his head stuck to Dumbledore's behind to see the sun and tried to create a marriage contract with the Weasleys and another family ally of Dumbledore's with all the fortune granted to them if you guys die. Harry had to duel you two, the Marauders, Dumbledore and his entire Order of the Flaming Turkey just to save the sisters. Ultimately the younger brother and your versions ended up here for processing once it was said and done."

"Yes, it was quite a spectacle." Thanatos mused with the air of one talking about the weather. "And possibly one of the worlds where I get to enjoy punishing Dumbledore and those versions of the Potters once he dealt them the final blows. Ah, I do miss those screams."

Lily and James did not really react to that statement, they were more occupied at the image of Harry standing before a crowd on top of what used to be Big Ben. Lily recalled her muggle history and could not suppress the shudders that came from the similarities of World War 2 and the conquests of the old nations. The fact it was her own son from a possible future made it harder to swallow.

"Why are we watching this now?" Lily asked with a bit of heat in her words.

"To show you the issues that had come about because of the resets, and to demonstrate what could have been an ideal scenario for success." Thanatos answered her as the room went dark and he got them out of the door and back into the corridor. "Given what has happened to you two and your son all this time, I have decided to take matters into my own hands and make sure the timeline is properly patched up." Thanatos waved his hand to close the door with a definite sound. "Now there is one question I need to ask. Do you want to return?"

"As in back home, back with Harry?" Lily asked hopefully only for Thanatos to wave his hand in a rocking motion.

"Not exactly. Because of the resets, the timeline has become too fluid, and while I have managed to undo all of the resets and repair the timeline, the multiverse has gotten unstable around those periods and will not be usable. Instead, I have a different proposal for you. Follow me please." The Potters followed Thanatos with thoughts going through their mind. They re-entered his office and Thanatos faced them once more.

"Let me first clarify for you on the matter." Thanatos waited for them to settle before continuing. "As stated, I have done what I can to fix the timelines for your family. For better or worse, your son has already been through enough of these resets that the timestream has effectively split into two, with his being a permanent thread to warrant a finer touch. As of a week ago, he is currently doing his thirteenth and final reset to ensure that he will complete his tasks, and I have assigned new reapers to act as his guardians while I personally maintain his timestream and the prophecy for his timeline."

"Who did you assign?" Gary's question got a reaction in the form of Thanatos palming his face and sighing.

"You know at least one of them, you were complaining about him the other day regarding his tendency to, what do you call it? 'Bashing of people who are considered daft morons'." That got a groan from Gary who introduced his face to the desk.

"Oh no, why him? Are you trying to traumatise the kid?" Gary asked with a whiny tone.

"Excuse me, is there something wrong with my son's watchers?" Lily asked in concern. Gary looked up briefly at her before slamming his face back down, prompting Thanatos to explain.

"One of his watchers is one of the more efficient Reapers to ensure success in his work, and he is able to get the job done with not too many problems. However with all of that success comes, shall we say, an attitude problem?"

"That is putting it nicely, Boss." Gary looked up again, and the Potters got a sense Gary was very annoyed given the smoke coming out from under the hood. "Sinyk is one of the senior Reapers to be in the service of our Boss here, and he is admittedly one of the better agents, but he has a major stick up his posterior that could use a prostate examination, and a tendency to make his subject a lord or someone with a high ranking to mess with others around them. He seems to believe that just about everyone around him is a daft moron for not using their noggin between their ears, and that he along with anyone he happens to be looking after are the best there is and does not care if he offends entire countries in the process. And depending on whether the subject has a girlfriend, he somehow delights in turning her into some high and mighty girl who must depend on said subject. Sinky is such a misogynistic and infuriating piece OF!"

"Gary." Thanatos interrupted and let out another sigh. "I know you have your differences but please."

"Fine, only since you are saying so, but really, get Sinyk to dial down his attitude a little. Or by a hundred percent." Gary crossed his arms and huffed like a kid sent to the corner to reflect on his mistakes. James and Lily were reminded of the former's attitude with Snape, and it kind of made the male Potter wonder if he was a daft moron. "At least tell me his partners can restrain him."

"One of them is Robst, the second is Finkel."

"Oh those are good choices." Gary released at that point. "Good old Robst, that guy can definitely restrain that jerk. He does not make any French birds go 'whee, whee'. And Finkel would make sure the kid actually has a life."

"Back to the matter at hand." Thanatos smoothly spoke as he looked at the adult Potters. "While your son is most assuredly going to succeed on his task, it is still in regards to his timestream. In that timestream, both of you are already deceased, so that cannot be changed." The being raised a finger at this bit. "But for the timestream the both of you originated from, you can go back to change some events."

"We can?" James was trying to wrap his head around this.

"What I am proposing is to send you both further back in time, specifically when you were one year from entering Hogwarts as children." Thanatos spoke to the adult Potters. "That is about the only point in the timeline that has not been contaminated by the reapers and has remained relatively stable. You can say that you can have a fresh start in life and the chance to save the lives you had wished in your previous life. I can even grant you some concessions as an apology for the mess you have gone through."

That was a very tempting offer for the adult Potters, but the both of them have experienced enough manipulations and could not help feeling something was going on here. "What is the catch?" James asked, knowing full well that this was too nice.

"Bearing in mind that this will be the only 'run' you can do, it means we won't be able to reset anymore to ensure the time stream is not affected badly. And while I can grant you concessions, there is a price to that action." Thanatos paused to wave a hand at the board that started displaying chalk wording on it.

"Primarily speaking, you are to ensure the wizard named Tom Riddle or Voldemort is to be eliminated. Whether it is before that night on Halloween or after, it must be done on your terms." Thanatos spoke while they listened. "Remember, the prophecy that hung over your family started as a fake, and because of all the resets done, the timestream has been split into two. Your son's timeline has that made real by Mother Magic and he needs to complete it, but for your case, it has yet to come to pass in the time. I am granting you this chance to either invalidate the prophecy, or to complete it by that night. In this manner, the Fates cannot interfere."

"Is that all?" Lily asked for confirmation.

"There is one more requirement, and this is something that I made sure to be given by the Fates who had messed up my work because of this." Thanatos's eyes appeared to get brighter at this point with him letting out a very dark chuckle. "Albus Dumbledore needs to be taken off the board." The gasps from the Potters prompted his explanation.

"His interference has been noted throughout the multiverse, even in those when he is genuinely a good person. But in your timeline, he has been actively seeking both of your lines' extinction." Both Potters blinked at that.

"Wait, both of ours?" James looked both angry and confused at that. "Why?

"Albus Dumbledore was once an ally and a close companion of Gellert Grindelwald before their falling out. But they were still in cahoots to some extent to manipulate the situation to achieve their dream of a magical utopia where the two would rule over their subjects, and force the non-magicals to their will." Thanatos explained while images and writings appeared on the board to show what he was talking about, and it was quite horrifying to know what was going on during the war. "Between the two, they were able to direct hate towards the non-magicals for supposedly getting their kind into trouble, and worked to subvert the higher echelons to do their bidding, but the disagreements between the two on the manner of guiding the populace, and especially the death of Arianna Dumbledore, drove the two apart. That said, they were working in their own manners towards the same goal."

"Well crap." James could not help that statement out of his mouth.

"In your case, your grandfather Charlus had battled against Grindelwald and almost single-handedly stopped his forces during the Battle of Gazala." Thanatos told James before turning to Lily. "And Lily's grandfather Sherman Granger was there to stop the man from attempting to charm the ministers from launching a full scale attack, even though he did not know about magic at the time. Unfortunately he could not stop the battle of Pearl Harbour in time."

Lily leaned back in her chair. She knew her grandfather had been around during the world war, but to learn that he stopped Dumbledore was quite impressive. "And for that Dumbledore wanted to kill my family?"

"Sherman slowed the operation Dumbledore had planned, enough for the Americans to begin creating the atom bomb, thus ending the war earlier than Dumbledore would have wanted. And one of the operations coincided with Charlus's attacks that ultimately forced Dumbledore to come out and 'defeat' Grindelwald, placing him in Numengard before taking in the remainder of his conquests under his control through the ICW." Thanatos answered her. "Because of those setbacks, the wizard decided to eliminate both lines, starting with your parents or grandparents."

"Wait." James interrupted with a frown. "You mean?"

"The dragon-pox your parents fell ill to? It was his doing." That answer earned him a good ranting with particular words that would have the late Euphemia come after him with the Potty Mouth charm. The being then turned to Lily who paled. "No."

"Your grandparents' deaths were from a car accident, but not by happenstance. And your parents were targeted from a tip off by Dumbledore so that he could point you to James and with some suggestions, have you married to him while driving Severus Snape into the darkness and become his spy through oaths." Thanatos answered. Lily swayed before collapsing in her seat, overwhelmed by the news. "Oh dear."

"What did you think would happen, Boss?" Gary deadpanned while James went to check on his wife.

"Something that won't take up too much time." Thanatos shrugged.

"Right, we need to get moving." Gary waved a hand to wake her up. "Rise and shine, Missus Potter." She took a moment to reorientate herself before her expression turned thunderous.

"THAT BLOODY SON OF A!"

"Yeah, this might take a while." James winced as Lily demonstrated the full vocabulary might of Her Royal Majesty, the French, the Italians and even some Norwegian mixed with Japaneses, all in one continuous stream that lasted a good minute and a half with the two reapers looking on with what might pass as amusement and slight awe.

"My dear, you have quite the imaginative mind." Thanatos mused after Lily finally stopped to take a breath. "Although I am pretty sure some of the combinations you had described would be impossible even if Dumbledore were an expert contortionist with ludicrous use of lube."

"I did not need that image, Boss." Gary shuddered while James looked like he wanted to hurl chunks.

"I don't care!" Lily was spitting mad at this point. "What do we need to do so that I can give that wizard a piece of my mind!"

"Very well. We have strayed a bit." Thanatos brought back the conversation. "As stated, you are to get rid of both Tom Riddle and Dumbledore. If you need more motivation, Dumbledore has his own horcrux that needs to be destroyed." That certainly fanned flames inside the two Potters as they realised the depths that the supposed "Light Lord" would go for his plans. "Given all that has happened, I have deemed it necessary to bend a few rules for this, but you need to decide if you wish to do this."

The two Potters looked at each other, entire conversations covered in that single glance, before turning back to Thanatos. "May we hear the rest of the conditions first?"

He did that within the next hour, with Lily fielding most of the questions and James throwing in a couple regarding magical laws to make sure they covered the less common parts. After all was said and done, Thanatos then presented the contract for them to view and confirm, even providing a magnifying glass to show he was not doing any tricks. The two shared one last look with one another before signing the contract, slightly wincing from a mark that appeared on their chests to show their ties to Thanatos.

"The contract has been made, we shall now send you back to your childhood past." Thanatos reached beneath his table to pull out a marble hammer with the head shaped like a skull with glowing eyes. "Due to the seriousness of the matter, both of you will be granted new watchers of my choosing. Depending on the situation, you may be approached to be kept up-to-date." The Being of Death raised the hammer and held it there while looking at the two Potters. "Are you ready?"

James and Lily looked at each other, the moment now made real to them. They won't be able to see each other for at least 1 year until they hit Hogwarts, and there was no telling if this could be the last time they would be together. With one last hug and a chaste kiss, the two held each other's hands and looked at Thanatos. "We are, Lord Thanatos."

Thanatos gave a nod and slammed the hammer on the table, the action releasing some sparks that gathered and swam around them in a tornado of light, their last sight being Gary who waved his hand at them before the light got so bright that forced the two to shut their eyes tightly. The tornado started gathering speed and they were hard pressed to maintain their hold on each other. Then with a sudden tug, both of them were pulled away from each other, and the two could not help screaming at the loss of contact from each other before the light turned everything white, and then…

"Happy Birthday, Lily!"

A pair of emerald green eyes flew right open, followed shortly by a scream issued from the mouth of the now eleven-year old Lily Evans at the memories flowing into her mind and at the sight of her parents greeting her.

Author's Notes:

It took me a while to get this one out, but I finally added a chapter for this challenge. I had to think of a reason for them to go back to, and I did not want the typical "You done this many times, but keep failing the task, and will go to hell" like the other versions of Harry.

For those who are sharp-eyed, the watchers for Harry are named after the authors who had done this, including the one who introduced this challenge. I am just using some of the comments that other users had often given in their stories. Hope KGFinkel likes his bit. XD