Chapter Text
Death and the afterlife wasn’t what Lily Evans expected. Maybe she was expecting to be greeted with the shining gates of Heaven that she believed in for the first half of her life, or the nothingness of falling asleep after taking a Dreamless Sleep. What she wasn’t expecting was to wake inside a study on an extremely comfortable couch next to her recently deceased husband, James Potter.
Looking around, she shot up when she realised that she didn’t have her baby boy in her arms. “Harry! Where’s my baby!” she cried out. James shot up when he heard her scream, wand in hand and waving around to find the danger his wife was in. when he couldn’t find any, he looked over to see what made her yell out, before also realising the absence of his son.
“HARRY!” he screeched, running about trying to see if he was laying somewhere they couldn’t see.
Before he could start moving furniture, both parents were startled by someone clearing their throat from behind them. They spun around, coming face-to-face with their unexpected guest, who was lounging on a loveseat watching them panic. Lily stepped forward, pushing a gaping James behind her, with a glare. She stared at their face with anger and asked through gritted teeth, “Who are you and where are we‽”. The stranger chuckled, a deep and melodic sound that made Lily think of her childhood with Petunia, before everything went wrong between them.
“I am called many things by many people, but you can call me Death. As for where you are —" he stands up, walking around the short coffee table to stand in front of them, “— well, you’re in my study of my realm.”
There was a pause of silence before — “WHAT‽”
Before James and Lily could spiral about being in Death’s personal study, Death’s voice interrupted their train of thought. “I believe that I can show you something that will somewhat calm your worries. Hopefully.” He whispers that last word, but as Lily was standing closer to him, she heard it and gave him a sharp look.
“What do you mean ‘hopefully’?” she seethed.
Death took a step back; his hands raised in the universal sign for surrender. “It all depends on if Fate actually follows through with her original plans, unlike when she accidentally got both of you killed.” Lily’s eye twitches. “But, if you would follow me, we will be able to look at what is happening with your son back in the land of the living.” He beckons them forward, guiding them to a large pond through the doors of his study. In the reflection of the pond, they were able to see little Harry Potter, as if it were a movie. When they look into the pond properly, they see the scene of Hagrid ripping Harry out of Sirius’ arms before riding off on Sirius’ flying motorbike. They then watched as Sirius shook his head to try and clear it before running off, muttering about finding Peter and getting revenge.
James and Lily both look at each other in worry, silently communicating with their eyes, before Lily turned to Death and, through gritted teeth asked, “Why was my son taken from his Godfather by Hagrid? WHERE IS HAGRID TAKING HIM‽” the last question was yelled out in her frustration. Lily was breathing heavily and looking up at Death with a look of resentment. But Death wasn’t looking at either of them. He was looking at the pond and he looked pissed.
Death took a deep breath before bellowing out, “FATE!”
Both James and Lily jumped from the shock of his yell, the room trembling from the aftershock. They heard a door slamming before an irritated-looking woman stormed in, walking straight towards Death, not paying attention to the other people around. “What? What do you think I did now?”
“Take a look and see for yourself.” Death grumbled, a frown still on his face.
As Fate peered into the pond, she gasped and recoiled at what she saw. “Oh no. Oh no no no. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to be with his family. Why isn’t he with his parents?” She looked up at Death with a confused look on her face. She finally looked around and once again recoiled in shock from seeing James and Lily in Death’s realm. “And what are they doing here?” She snapped her gaze back to Death, as if it were his fault for them being there in the first place.
Death sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Well, you would know why if you were paying attention. They were attacked and killed by Tom Riddle; however, they would know him better as Lord Voldemort.” Fate gasped, tears filling her eyes as she looked over at Lily and James. She walked over to them and placed one hand on both of their faces, looking at them with so much sadness.
“I need you two to know that this outcome was never supposed to happen. Never.” She steps back, moving to hold their hands in hers. “I need you to remember that we have a plan to fix what is happening with Harry.”
“What do you mean ‘fix what is happening with Harry‽’” Lily exclaimed, ripping her hands from Fate’s. Fate gently guided them to look into the pond, where they see Dumbledore place Harry on the doorstep of Number 4 Privet Drive. The pond then shows all who were standing there, including Professor Minerva McGonagall and Hagrid, who was standing in front of Sirius’ bike.
They all paused for a few seconds that seemed to stretch for eternity. The silence seemed to take a deep breath before it shattered from Lily and James screaming out for Harry. They both held onto each other as they sunk to the floor, sobbing. Death calmly walked over to them before crouching down to where they were laying.
“Now that you have seen what we need to fix, we can finally get to what we can do to fix it. Are you ready to try?”
Before either Lily or James could respond to his question, the doors to the study flew open with a bang. All the occupants in the room turned to face the intruder, before James let out a strangled gasp and shot up, running towards the figure cloaked in shadow. When he was in arms reach of the stranger, he threw his arms around them in a tight hug before shouting out the one name he hasn't said in years.
“REGGIE‽"