Chapter Text
In several spots all around Britain, soul containers were found in the wake of the wave and destroyed leaving behind freshly clean objects of great personal value. The soul pieces were sent off to Death for judgment. The piece that had set it off, contained in a little eleven-year-old Submissive Dragel that had been used to find them all, was set loose to follow the other pieces to their rightful place. The largest fragment that was hiding in one Professor Quirinus Quirrell was released, leaving behind an empty husk of a man to gasp his last breath. Never knowing what had happened to him.
This piece fled as quickly as it could to hide somewhere it deemed safe from Death. Already having a goal in mind as to where to hide and what to possess to gain strength and attempt to gain life again to make more Horcruxes.
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In a Place Mapped by No One
Life stood among her siblings watching as her son stepped through the gate to a more promising future. This had gone much better than she had predicted. The people that had been needed had been available to work to the best advantage.
Chaos and Mayhem bumped shoulders with her as they got up to leave, already planning for things to happen in the war that was about to be let loose on Great Britain. They could see a lot of possibilities. They may even be able to set it for around the world. Surely there were other evil overlords out on the other continents they could set the army on.
Luck turned from the viewing glass as it went dark and flipped her coin. She caught it easily and looked at the face that was up. Whatever she read there made her happy, if her smile was any indication. She kept flipping it and reading the signs to all she asked of it.
Magic surrounded her in their embrace and gave her a loving hug before washing away in a wave of their namesake. Her gift to many Beings was safe for now.
Fate, Fate stood and stared at her, all of her aspects cycling through her. The look on her face said she was not happy with what had happened, but her body language said something else. That she was happy with this outcome, that the prospects were better. All the others hadn’t ended so peaceably, even with the battle that was about to take place. She faded away to look at her tapestry and get her threads of life mapped out again. They had changed so much in the past few hours that she needed to look at the bigger picture yet again.
The whisper of Time brushed against her. He always had time. He always would. He faded away, happy with the outcome and not needing to add his own meddling.
Love gave her a humongous hug before fading away leaving a wave of love and acceptance to wash over her.
When she was sure she was alone again. She waved her hand over the Viewing Glass. A memory she would never forget began to play.
Fate had warned Life of all the possibilities this event would cause. The many people this ritual that was about to be performed could cause. The many Beings that could be summoned. Even some of her own siblings were called by it. So many probabilities.
The beautiful young, red-haired woman was clad in a silky, dark red, dressing gown as she lit the last candle and checked her last chalked out rune at her feet. She had found this ritual in an old book in her husband’s family library. They had been searching for a way to have a child. They both wanted a child desperately and needed a third to make that happen.
The idea of any of the people that the headmaster had given them a list of had turned both their stomachs. There had been no way that she would have accepted any of the names on that list. Her husband had agreed on that, some of the names on the list had been ludicrous. He hadn’t found any of them palatable either. When she had shown him this ritual he had jumped on it. It was the answer to their prayers. He now stood in the center of the circle amidst a pile of comfy pillows that waited for them to start the performance. He was clad in a housecoat similar to her own.
She nodded as her check found everything in order. The ritual would summon the best possible match for a third parent for the child they wanted to have. The best match that could be made.
Her husband took his place at one side of the circle, his housecoat slipping from his shoulders as he sliced his palm and let the required blood fall onto the runes at the exact same time as she did her own. They slowly moved to the center again and started their act of lovemaking.
The couple was certainly not body shy, and their actions started to light the runes up in a glowing cascade around them. Their bodies moved in synchronicity. Motions they had become comfortable with as they copulated.
Life stood and watched; waiting and wondering; she had been a part of this ritual before. Others had called to her for this boon as well. She had many children, of her own and through others. She waited, then she felt it, the pull, and a small smile graced her lips as she walked through the ritual array to join the couple that had become a beckoning beacon. It seemed in this timeline it was her turn to be the third parent. To achieve the wondrous creation of new life.
Life watched the memory play out with love and wonder in her eyes. She would never regret the choice she had made to aid this couple in their goal of a child that night. The son that the redhead had borne was truly worthy of her gift to them.
Unbeknownst to her, her twin had joined her not long after the memory began. Death stood behind her watching the event that unfolded and nearly cursed herself. The child that she had been trying to bring to her side in an attempt to place her own blessing on it, was the child of her twin. The other half of their coin. Her twin brought souls into the world. She took them away. She knew that her sister had won this round. The first time that she had given a blessing, let alone to one of her own children she had gifted too worthy Beings.
As the memory faded away, she reached out a hand to clasp her sister’s shoulder. They were so used to each other’s auras that it didn’t even make a blip on their radar. Life brought Death; Death brought Life. Her sister hadn’t noticed her arrival at all.
Life swung around to lock eyes with the sister she least wanted to see at this moment. Death.
As their eyes locked, the oddest thing was found in those eyes. Compassion. It wasn’t often found there, but there it was.
“If I had known he was your personal child I would not have tried so hard to bring him to my court.” Death offered Life the boon.
Life shook her head in denial. “If you had not placed your trials before him he would not have been worthy of my blessing.” She looked back at the Viewing Glass. “I would not have been able to do what I did this night.”
Death nodded. What had been done by the disgusting old reprobate…she was still furious at her findings. He had better hope to live much longer in the state he was now in, for when he entered her domain he would find no succor waiting for him, only damnation. A wry smile twisted her lips. “I thank you for all the souls you sent me this night. Some have long been forgotten.”
Life blinked and nodded in acceptance of her twin’s compliment. She watched as she gave a little back wave as she faded away to nothing, to return to her duties. This confrontation had gone much better than she had hoped it would. All the confrontations with her siblings had.
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Somewhere Deep in a Forest
Death stepped out of the shadows in the depths of a forest in a small clearing, in the middle of nowhere. Her aura expanded around her, the vegetation around her shriveling away, trees going gray with rapid aging. A snake that was moving away to hide in a little mouse burrow in the ground was frozen in mid slither.
“You have long escaped my grasp.” She murmured as she lifted the snake, movement returned to it. The strikes of the adder had no effect on her. She was Death after all. The poison from its venomous sacks would do nothing to her. She reached out a hand and brushed a finger down its body releasing the soul possessed within. “You are no longer a danger to my nephew. My sister’s child will never have to fear your attempts to kill him.”
A fractured soul was peeled away from the snake, the snake was released and sent on its way. It was not time for the reptile to die.
The hound at her side looked up at the fractured soul that was held in its mistress’ hands. Pieces that had been cut away reformed, into one whole soul again. It shivered and quaked in those cold unforgiving hands, once more becoming whole. Still not caring for all the devastation that had been done by it. The Hellhound watched as his mistress made the soul whole once again. A hand was moved away and placed on its head.
“For you, my pet.” Was murmured as the soul was held out to it. “Try not to get indigestion from it.”
It wolfed down the soul in one bite, the hand that had rested on its head scratched behind its ears for a minute as his mistress contemplated something.
“Now only to figure out a way to break those soul seals without too much discomfort to my nephew.” She murmured before fading back into the shadows to return to her duties. There was going to be a great influx of souls soon. She would have to prepare her court for the ingress. The Hellhound followed in her wake as she left the clearing. Life restored to what she had killed in her being there.
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Ministry of Magic, Department of Mysteries, Prophecy Orb Hall
An orb that had sat on the shelf for many years glowing brightly, now died out. The label on it said S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D Dark Lord and Harry James Potter. The prophecy had gone dark, it no longer applied. The power that was unknown was Life.
The Prophecy, for one Harry James Potter, died that day. Prophecies died every day. New ones would always be made to take the place of the old ones. It was how the world turned.