Chapter Text
October 31st 1981 (Goldrics Hollow)
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“Lilly!” James screamed “Grab Hadrian and run!”
Then the green light. That damn green light. Why couldn’t James just grab his wand? Why couldn’t James just tell Sirius to shut it and keep him as the Secret Keeper? The love of James’ life may have been dead, but he still had someone to live for, the one thing that he had left Him, their beautiful baby boy, Hadrian.
“At least I’ll be able to see Him again” James thought. “Hadrian, please be okay, you have so much more to live for, so much more time, please let me have made enough time for them to run away and get out of here.”
“He’s not going to die,” a voice that James could not see said, “And neither are you and that precious lover of yours.”
“Wh-Who are you?!” James choked out, trying to see who was talking to him, but seeing nothing but a chilling void that seemed to reflect everything and nothing at the same time. ‘Ok’ James thought ‘This is creepy, I'm either gonna get tortured or something equally creepy and gruesome is going to happen.’
“I am Death” Death said “fear not, little mortal, I mean not harm, I just want to talk”
“How can we talk if I can’t see you?”
James was right, it was gruesome and creepy. It was Death. And death is nothing if not creepy.
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October 31st, 1981 (Death’s realm?)
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If you ever told James that he would have been in a room with Death himself a few hours ago, well, he would have laughed in your face and went to go play with Hadrian. But at last, here he was, doing just that. Was he scared? Pfft, no, okay maybe a little bit, but that was besides the point.
All James could think about was why was he here, why isn’t he with Him, is his son okay? And James had a feeling he was going to get the answer to his questions from the immortal in front of him.
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Where Death had brought him looked like an office with black wood for the desk and the chairs and the bookshelves that lined the room. There were torches everywhere, but they generated no heat, that seemed to come to life when Death walked in.
Speaking of Death, he did not look that scary, he looked like a normal human, but he didn’t at the same time. He had this aura around him that reminds James that he is not like him. He had long black hair, and porcelain skin, and eyes that seemed like they held the secrets of the universe, and he looked so much like Him.
“You are probably wondering why you are here, or why I brought you here” Death said
“Yes, I am, Lord Death”
He smiled, not a creepy smile, but one filled with exasperation, the same one He used to give him. “Please, just Death is fine”
“Okay then, I am wondering why I am here Death”
“Like I said, we are only here to talk”
“I have a feeling that is not the only thing we are going to do” James mummered under his breath, feeling a sinking feeling in his gut. Something is going to go wrong
“You’re right, that’s not all that is going to happen.” Death stated, “But you already knew that didn’t you, James?”
The second the god said his name he felt a shiver run down his back, “Let's get into it, I guess...”
“Yes, lets” Death agreed “But let's go outside, you’re going to want some fresh air”
And James, well James didn’t know what to do but agree
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James thought that it would take at least a few seconds to get outside, but he was wrong. When they stepped out of the office they were already in a magnificent garden. Any type of plant you could have thought of was there, even the stuff thought to be myths or made up. In the center of the garden there was a pond that had a statue of a thestral that was surrounded by forget-me-nots.
‘Hadrian would have loved this’ James thought
“Now then” Death said suddenly, “Let's get to the reason that you are here”
James got nervous, “is it something bad?”
Death sighed “I guess you could say yes, but really it's far worse than bad”
“What happened?” James asked suddenly, “And what does it have to do with me and my family?”
“Well-” Death started “how much do you know about you and Regulus?"
That name hit him like a punch to the gut. Regulus.
Regulus Arcturus Potter-Black.
The Love of his life. The one who bard their son. The one who has been missing for months. The one whose death he had to find out over a damned Newspaper. The one that he can’t help but still love after everything. The person who had been his obsession since he was 11 and his parents told him he had been into an arranged marriage.
Him.
“What about us?” James finally said after a moment of silence
“You and Regulus are not merely mortals” Death stated “You two have the favor of the gods, always have, always will”
“E-excuse me?”
“We have been very interested in you two for a long time”
“Why? I mean, I can get why Regulus is, I think everyone can, but why?”
“Well, where to begin, you two are extraordinarily powerful, you always find a way out, and you are very entertaining”
“Because we’re entertaining?”
“Yes that, but also because of your son”
The hairs on James’ neck started to stand up “What about our son?”
“Your son was always destined to be the gods beloved” Death looked at James and smiled, “Always, in every universe, in every lifetime, he always is, no matter what”
James felt a feeling of dread, he was about to say something but he didn’t get the chance to.
“Don’t worry, everything that happens in so many timelines have already happened in yours”
James started to panic, “What happened to my son?!” James shouted. He didn’t care that he was yelling at a god, all he cared about was his son, and if he had to fight Death himself to make sure his son was safe, then so be it, he’ll do it.
Death smiled at James, "Don’t worry, he is safe, at least for now”
“What do you mean ‘at least for now’!? Is my son going to be okay”
“With mine and my colleagues' assistance, yes he is going to be okay.”
James let out a sigh of relief, his son is going to be okay, he can rest easy
Wait.
“What do you mean?”
Death laughed, the same airy laugh that Reggi always did when he thought someone was being funny or stupid on purpose and turned to look at the pond “I mean what I said, Hadrian Potter-Black will be just fine, I swear it on my honor as a god.”
“I don’t think a god does that often, do they?”
“No, we don’t but if it is about Hadrian, we do.”
“Why am I here?”
“To learn the truth about everything, and to make sure you can protect him.”
“Do you think that I can’t?”
Death looked at James, “Not with the way you are now, no, right now you are too blindsided by compulsions to do anything but what they say.”
“Come again?”
Death suddenly looked very sad, “We couldn’t save you, either of you. We can’t interfere with mortal affairs unless we are directly called upon."
“But there an exception” James stated
Death smiled, “There are always exceptions, you just have to be clever enough to find them and exploit them”
“Before we get into all of this can I ask a question?”
“Always, but I think that I know what it is”
“If you think that I wanna ask why you look like the love of my life, then you're right.”
“It’s because a lot of people associate him with me, so I kind of taken a lot of his characteristics”
‘Liar’ James thought, there was something else happening, but he didn’t know, and he didn’t want to confront Death himself and call him a liar.
“Is it because people call him the Angel of Death?”
“Yes it is, but lets get back on topic now please?”
“Sure, I was kinda avoiding that, but please, let's carry on!”
“You know what compulsions are right?”
“I’m thinking you mean the magic type?” Death nodded "forbidden magic that subtly changes the way that you think or act, some can be strong enough to change how you look, you won’t even know that you are under it until you go to Gringotts or you die, I guess.”
“Yes, you are not wrong about that,”
“What about it?” James said nervously, “You don’t mean…”
“I mean just that, you and your friends have been under them for quite a while, and if we don’t act soon your son will be too.”
James felt a sinking feeling in the bottom of his guts,
“Then what are we waiting around for?!” James yelled, “I need to go help him!”
“In due time” Death said patiently
“In due time?! My son will be under magic he has no reason to be around!”
“Did you forget that we are in my realm? Time does not matter here.”
“But can’t we, I don’t know, hurry it up a bit? I need to get to him as soon as possible"
Death rolled his eyes at James, “Since you are in such a hurry, I will just give you the bare minimum of the information that you need and you can find out the rest at Gringotts.”
“Sorry, but thank you”
“First things first, Regulus Black-”
“Potter-Black actually” James interrupted
“Do you want the information or not?” Death snapped
“Sorry, continue, also what about my husband?”
Death rolled his eyes but continued, “Your husband is still alive, but before you say anything he is only alive because of where he is being kept, and that is in a lake full of Inferi”
“Is he okay?” James blurted out, looking at the god with terror in his eyes. ‘He’s been in there for months, he’s probably starving and lonely, and, and, I’ll kill the one that put him there! How dare they do that to my husband, my Reggi!’
“He is fine, he won’t be there much longer,” Death pulled James out of his spiraling
James let out a breath that he didn’t know he had been holding, “what do you mean he won’t be there much longer?”
“You’ll see when you get back to the world of living”
“I’m going back?” James asked, hope oozing out of him
“Yes, but things won’t be the same, not with everything that is going to happen”
“What’s going to happen?’
“I can’t tell you, you’ll have to see what happens.”
“Is there anything else you want to tell me?”
“You’ll find my ma- Hadrian at Lily Evens sister’s house”
‘My ma- what? What was he going to say’ James thought, “Lily’s sister’s house? You mean the sister that absolutely hates magic? You mean that sister?”
“Yes that sister, Also don’t trust Albus Dumbledore.” A bell chimed. “Looks like you were right, we did need to hurry this up, farewell James Potter-Black, we’ll speak again someday.”
“Wait, I still have some questions!” James yelled but it was too late, The ground beneath his feet collapsed and he fell with it.
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October 31st, 1981 (Goldrics Hollow)
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Pain.
That was the first thing James registered when he woke up, grueling pain. The next thing that he registered was Regulus, cradling him crying.
Regulus, his Regulus! He was alive!
“James, James! Please wake up, please!” He cried “They took Hadrian, they took our boy, and I don’t know where he is. Please just wake up and make everything right again. Please, I’m begging you! Don’t leave me!”
Regulus didn’t notice him moving at first.
“I’m here love” James said gently, lifting his hand to wipe the tiers off of his face, “I’m here”
Regulus went stiff “James?” Then he flashed that beautiful smile that James had always adored and tackled him “You have no idea of how happy that I am that you are alive!” Regulus looked at James and backed away a little bit to give Jame some room to breath “Wait- how are you alive?”
“Long story short, I died, I met Death, the god Death, he told me somethings and then he sent me back here.”
Regulus looked hopeful, “Does that mean he told you where Hadrian is?”
James smiled, “Yes he did”
Regulus let out a sigh of relief , “That’s good, at least we know where he’s at and we can go and get him. He’s probably so scared” Regulus said sadly
“Wait, how are you here? Death said that you were in a cave full of-”
“Inferi? Yes, I was, I’ll tell you all the details later, but, as you said it, long story short, I met a god too, Life, at least I think it was life, anyway, he looked a lot like you, but unlike the god you talked to, all he did was hug me and cry, he looked like he was going to say something at first but all that changed the second he saw me, It was weird.” He took a breath and pulled James in closer, “By the 7 Arcane, I am so glad you are alive”
James brought his hand up to Regulus’ cheek and kissed him, when they finally parted James remembered something, “We need to get to Hadrian, like now”
Regulus started to get up from the ground, shakily, but he still did it. “Is he okay? Is he hurt? Where is he? Is he somewhere safe? Is-” Regulus panicked
“He is fine, for now.” James admitted “What time is it?”
“Judging by the placement of the moon, 11:30. Why are we too late?!”
“No, I'm just judging how long it will take us to get to him.”
“Where is he?” When James didn’t answer Regulus yelled “James, where is my son?!”
“With what I’ve been told, he’s with Lily's sister.”
“Lily- Lily's sister?! You mean the one that we met? You mean the one that called us slurs because we were married? You mean the one that told us that if she ever saw a child that was made from a magical family she would beat the ‘freakishness’ out of them, in front of the entire bloody train station full of students?! That sister?!”
James winced, “Yeah that one.”
Regulus looked furious “I am going to strangle you Potter, once I get my son back!”
“Okay,” It’s not like I won’t like that “Wait-speaking of Lily-is she…”
Regulus teared up again, that was all the answer he needed
James felt furious. How dare Voldemort kill Lily! He was mad at Voldemort, mad at Dumbledore, but most definitely mad at himself for not caring that much about her death. ‘That’s terrible, you monster, she helped you out when you thought regulus died, she cared for you and your son! How can’t you care!’ James thought, but he couldn’t help but not care. She was a great person, but she always freaked James out a bit. She was a bit of a stalker, and it seemed that she spread a lot of rumors about how he was obsessed with her… Now that he thought about it, why did he ever let her into his home? Was it Compulsions? Or something else? Anyway that didn’t matter anymore, James couldn’t care less about her and how she died, all of that is said and done, his husband is back and they are going to get their son back all is well. Especially since he can move out of this horrid cabin, he never really even liked this place anyway, good riddance it was destroyed, and it always seemed like Hadrian never liked this place either, nor Lily for that matter.
James got up and wiped Regulus’ eyes “Why are you crying my love?”
“Hadrian-” Regulus choked up, “She was probably one of the only people that he knew, how will he react when he doesn’t see her again?”
James laughed, “He always seemed irritated around her anyway, I don’t think he liked her very much, you have nothing to worry about, all we have to do now is get our son back and announce to the world that we’re alive and take our lives back.”
“So you’re not sad or worried?”
“Not even a little bit. Now let's go get our son back.”