Chapter Text
Treading through the Forbidden Forest the fallen leaves crunched under the weight of his massive paws as they made contact with the forest floor.
It has been a couple of months since the light side had won the war against Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters.
And all Harry wanted to do now was to hibernate for a few years, like a sleepy bear in winter- even if his sleep lasted for just a few days, hours even.
To get away from the mass of students at Hogwarts.
To let the press settle down before he could emerge out into the light again.
They hail him as a hero.
He hates it, he tries to distance himself from his friends and peers but they keep showing up when he least expected them to, so he hid. He cutted off all contact with the world, even his closest friends.
He just felt lost, empty, like something was missing.
But thinking on it for a while on his lonesome, he speculated that the feeling was from the missing soul shard that Voldemort had killed off.
Well, he thinks that's what it was, it had to be right? As it had been with him for so long, just to be ripped away.
As time passed a few months, the talk of Harry Potter being a war hero gradually drifted out of people's minds. As bigger rumors started to sprout, spreading like wildfire around the construction of Hogwarts. That a gigantic bear-wolf-like creature; bigger than any wolf or werewolf known to the wizarding record- had moved into the outer layers of the forbidden forest.
Some were scared and some were skeptical. It's not every day that you have a random wild creature, scouting the castle's outer walls.
Well, unless you were Hagrid and his arrange of cuddlesome pets, that happens every day.
The students had begun suggesting names to one another. Crazy as there were, many had suggested it was Lycaon or the Gwyllgi. Which was just the kids flinging suggestions around, it's not like they had seen the figure up close- only the teachers and other students who worked closer to the Forbidden Forest. But the most speculated theory was that it was just a werewolf but was quickly shot down as the wolf had been seen in the afternoons, looking perfectly healthy with all the fur it was carrying, putting an end to that rumor.
Not one brought up the possibility of it being an animagus as funny as it sounds.
Though Harry knows that all of these rumors were just that- rumors, though not because he had witnessed the beast for himself, but because he is that beast.
Wow.
Shocking, but hear him out.
Harry had been training himself for over two years to complete his transformation into his animagus form in the success of Sirius' previous training with him. He had completed the whole process of the transformation by the fifth day of Hogwarts construction. However, he hadn't tried to transform yet as he was afraid that if anyone would catch him in the process, they would rat him out.
After researching for quite a while, he had finally figured out what he was.
Turns out that his form was a gigantic Canadian Shadowed Timber Wolf- quite a long name if you tell him.
꧁༺ 𝕱𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖎𝖈 𝕭𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖘 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖂𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖔 𝕱𝖎𝖓𝖉 𝕿𝖍𝖊𝖒 ༻꧂ Describes the beast as Big, bulky and dark from their skin to their fur, they have large teeth that jut out of their muzzle like small tucks.
And compared to his nonmagic and magical counterparts he was larger in comparison to any documented size charts.
A Shadowed Timber Wolf has rarely been seen or recorded to memory by the magical and nonmagical world as they rarely ever come out in daylight, they tend to stick to the shadows more often, blending in with the night when they do eventually come out.
They're born for the manipulation of the shadows-Umbrakinesis.
The natural wisps of shadows that they pulled over the fur make them bend their matter and blend into the shadows.
Harry loves the ways he can manipulate his matter to make his forms solid or intangible.
Those powers alone inject fear into muggles and magics alike. Many mistake them as grims, with a sheet of wisps and brightly colored eyes that look demonic to anyone who happens to come across one, non could be blamed if they saw that, many would think their death omen would come true once the grim happened to see them.
But aside from that, they're best known for the multitude of powers they randomly have, every one of them has a unique ability gifted to them from birth.
For example, Harry's gift of 'Therianthropy' or simply 'Shape-Shifting' is as simple as that: He can take on the forms of different entities - like crows, snakes, and cats. He likes that he can hide in plain sight and others won't take notice of it. He likes how his gift can shrink his animal's forms to a normal size or enlarge himself; inflicting unawareness on his foes- or in his case prey.
Picking up his pace Harry's ears swerved around attentively.
The orange leaves broke off the branches, drifting slowly onto the ground. The afternoon sun leaked between the crevasse of the branch coverings and onto his fur, glistening with many assortment of colors.
Harry trotted into a clearing, stopping slightly to look at the outer rim of the clearing, littered with red spider lilies with a steady flowing pond leading into the Black Lake far off to his side.
Slowly, Harry made his way to the pond, lying just out of reach of the lilies. Rolling heavily onto his side, he was careful not to squish any of the lilies to the back of him in the process.
Huffing, he pulled his paws up to the underside of his chin as his eyes roamed across the area to get a sense of the beautiful forest before him. Fog leaked out gently from the dark, and the trees seemed to twitch and wither against the touch of the mist. Even though the sun's rays hit most spots in the open space before him, making the spots dreamy and warm, it also made the majority of the dark-covered areas more cold and dangerous with no light to see what was positioned there, lurking.
Distance chirping of the overseeing birds and the slight rustling of leaves in the breeze from the surrounding trees make the scene in front of him a peaceful sight to behold.
Harry wasn't too worried about any attacks from the residents of the forest, he'd scanned the place and evaluated that the area was only homed to prey like animals. He'd let his mind slip away, to forget the fear-inducing, heartbreaking, chaotic year he had before, and forget his worries to just take it easy out here for a while, if only for a while...
Give him an eternity of peace, please, just for a while.
'Crack'
The wolf's ears jolted up, his head quickly swung around to what sounded like a stick being snapped under the pressure of someone's foot. A swirl of light was all he could see behind a tree before-
'Floosh'
Lights of pink struck beside his foot, slashing the ground deeply. Eyes pricked, ears flipped down and in the same second he sprung up and bolted into the mist like a rubber on a bendy ruler in one fell swoop.
Looking behind himself, Harry could see an indecisive figure following his every move. Looking back in front of him, Harry swung off to the side and started to twist and duck about the trees, fallen logs, and bushes, trying to make the wizard lose track of him in the mist, even going so far as to merge himself into the tree's shadows. Though to no luck; balls of light struck his position, forcing him to leap out and out of the way.
It was like the wizard had some sort of tracking spell cast on him as everywhere he went, the figure was there. Or when he had merged with the shadows of the trees around him, he was then hit by an assortment of light spells directly, making him spring out again and run off once again.
Non-existing tears sprung from his eyes. All he wanted to do was relax after the war, and not get slaughtered like any of the other years before him- like geez give him a break... He felt like a deer being hunted down by a pack of wolves. Wasn't he meant to be the hunter? Not the other way around?
Arggh, was peace too difficult to ask for?
He wants peace.
Harry was pulled from his sulking, having just enough time to turn intangible before another bolt of light clashed before his front feet, cutting him off once more and forcing him to skid around to the way he had just come. He had somehow slipped past the wizard, not even getting to glance at their face before blazing past them.
Harry growled, knowing he was being led into a trap of some sort.
Slowly, the red spider lilies came back into view, meaning he was led back to the very start of the chase.
Panting heavily as he came to a shaky stop, Harry slowly sealed his fate as he turned his head, glancing back just in time as the snapping of ropes entangled his body tightly, making his side ram right into the ground with a heavy dull thud as the force of the ropes flung him into the dirt with leave debree flung upwards.
Panting more rapidly, Harry tilted his head up ever so slightly as a halo rimmed the sides of the shadowy figure loomed over his head. Snarling, his toxic green-colored eyes clashed with snowy blue.
Letting out his magic up and into the air, Harry's eyes glowed with his magic.
"Dumbledore... What a fine day it is to meet you once more. What brought you back? And to play chase with lil' ol' me... Ohh hoh. I can see the headlines now 'Headmaster, Coming back from the grave' Gasp! What Dark Magic!~. Oh my~ We all thought you had died, many will be cheering from the rooftops~" Harry's magic rang out in a fake cheerful tone. Though inside, he was trying to cover up the fact that he was so goddam confused as to how Dumbledore was even alive. He had seen Snape kill the old man on top of the tower; and if the fall had not killed him- if he had fallen to the ground, he was already dying from the Resurrection Stone-turned-Horcrux that had a very dark curse from what he read up on placed on it. A flesh-eating one- ouch. Though from the look of it now- the curse had just left a light grey overtone to the man's fingers. "What made you sought me out so far from your domain~?" Harry uttered, eyes narrowing to the man's chin. He was terrified of what Dumbledore would do to him if he forced his way into his mind and found out that the entity he had in his spelled ropes was Harry Potter.
Dumbledore being well and truly alive was one of the most baffling things to him right now. And if Dumbledore discovers that he's the wolf -read unregistered animagus) at the end of his wand, that's running an amok in the Forbidden Forest, it will either get him locked up in Azkaban or killed - or both. But both will have his freedom stripped away from underneath his feet at the drop of a hat.
"Yes, yes lovely day indeed. As to how I'm alive..." Dumbledore's twinkly eyes dimmed a little "That's of no concern to you. I've been hearing flutters of your explorations around the school walls. We can't have you hurting our dear precious students now, can we? I'll have to, relocate you someplace else." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled again as he looked down at the tied-down wolf. in front of his feet
Dumbledore looked more properly at the wolf, its eyes, size, and fur color rang a bell for him, it seemed familiar to him but he couldn't quite remember where he had seen it before...
The last time he had ever seen something quite like that before was when... No, it was gone- lost to time forever. Besides it couldn't be alive... He killed it, the perfidy snake.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Dumbledore raised his forgotten wand down to the beast in sync as it showed its glossy teeth in a sneer.
"So, you're going to put down this big bad wolf now, are you? Not very light of you Dumbledore~ What would the Order- the light that had fought for your side think?" Harry's magic was like a songbird, the visible light of magic starting to swirl all around them. Making his now intensely glowing Avada green eyes dilate. "Killing a beast that did no woe.." The wolf's voice echoed hypnotically in Dumbledore's ears like a snakes hiss.
Dumbledore frowned, not wanting to think of this wolf as the beast he had killed off long ago, even though it looked the same...It has no accessories on its person that was remotely familiar to that of the beast that was once owned by him or any others. Unless they had taken off those items but...
Scowling, Dumbledore gripped his wand fiercely, he had enough of the furry beast below him. Directing his wand to the green-eyed wolf's head, he pressed the tip hard into its skull "I killed you once, I can kill you again... Good-bye. Avada Kedavra" The snowy eyed man muttered under his breath. Green light filled Harry's vision, lingering magic still clinging to the intensely heating air making colorful swirls and the magic pop and crack. He could smell the odd stench of his death that was somehow in the air and the aroma of the red flowers around him before his vision went completely black.
All black- it was like the void had just curled around himself before what felt like a moment later, a white blinding light shot upon him unexpectedly.....
'...Gasp!'
Taking big gasps of air like he just got shot from up and out of water. Harry gasped like a fish out of water, his eyes shot open, only to be startled by an open range of galactic stars.
Frowning, Harry hollered himself up onto his hands and knees, Harry started looking around at his surroundings.
Before his very eyes, a familiar platform rippled into existence. Looking about the platform curiously, his eyes drifted onto the only lone figure that stood out from the misty white fog.
Pulling himself up, Harry walked over to the lone figure. As he got closer, he recognized with wide eyes that it was a child, curled up next to a line of benches, hiding their little face in between their knees. Harry's mind started to riffle through his memory as he looked down at the child. He was confused, about why the child was there.
... -was the child a Horcrux?
But if it was, then why were they here - it would have been killed off when Voldemort killed him in the Battle of Hogwarts. He saw it, the small decrepit baby curled right under this very spot, now looked like a small semi-healthy child.
Shaking his head slightly, he drifted over to the little child, cautious as to not startle him with any strong noises. Kneeling, he puts one of his hands on the child's back, the child's skin flinched under his touch.
"Don't worry" Harry uttered softly "You know where you are right?" The child nods, wiping the salty tears from his cheeks.
"Y-You're my holder?" The child uttered with one wide eye peeking up, looking into Harry's eyes.
Harry blinked confused at the child's words. What did he mean by...
Oh.
Just as he was about to open his mouth, the little child's eye darted off to the side, tilting his head up to stare over Harry's shoulder.
Harry frowned in confusion, but then felt the shift in the air, making him tense up.
Bolting up and spinning around to face the imposing figure, Harry snarled up at the 10-footed figure. Their face full of amusement as the man in black patted Harry's head as if he was in his animagus right then and there "Calm down master, I just wanted to greet you and your-" The entity's glowing icy white eyes could be seen shifting its gaze over behind Harry to the child that was tightly clenching onto Harry's shirt, the child looked downright terrified of the entity before them, they looking like they were about to ball their eyes out "-Child.. Dumbledore has been meddling with many mortal lives for a long time. He never told you what you are or what you could and would become- that becoming a martyr, a pig to the slaughter. Many of you children would be used to fight and then die like a pawn on his life-size chess board, with you being his main pawn, a willing little sacrifice, that never had a choice in the matter. You ended up growing mentally faster than the rest while being thrown into the deep end right after you found out something that you thought made you sick and unwanted by your so-called family, only to find out that it was quite normal among thousands. A quite a sad ending if you tell me, master..." The voice was soft in his ear. "Say, do you know why the Horcrux is still here and why it hadn't moved on when it had been killed off?" The tall being knelt on one knee to look down at Harry. The child tilted its head down slowly, trying to avoid the creature's gaze.
"I think... I do know, but I'm still unsure.." Turning around, Harry crouched down to face the child, tilting the small child's head with his fingers to face him directly "I think you also know how you're still here.... Do...Do you want me to call you Tom or... Voldemort- or is there any other name you want to be called by? I'm unsure what to call you, and I don't want to continue calling you Child as that will get annoying for the both of us" Harry whispered kindly, smiling softly as he patted the small child's cheek with the pad of his thumb. It was like what a mother does to comfort their weeping child.
Harry temporarily forgot the figure behind them as he spoke to the child.
"I would like to be called Tom...Please..." The child's whispered, eyes glistened up at him.
Harry nodded as he looked back up at the figure.
Suddenly a skeletal hand slowly rose onto Harry's shoulder. Harry looked up into the now soulless eyes.
" Oh, ah. This was quite rude of me, I just realized that you-we haven't introduced ourselves yet." Glowing green eyes narrowed onto the figure's features. "You're Death, right? Come to take me to the afterlife for good now?"
"My~, master why so distrusting now~ But sure, as I know of your mortal name but not of mine." The creature backed up and then bowed very graciously "The name's Death, straight up, and depending on where and what culture around the world I am depicted from, I go by many names and titles. But it will always be the same result. I could go by Anubis, Thanatos, blah-blah-blaa, Morrighan, Mot, Hel, yeah yeah whatever, though with you I'll stick with Death as it's much more manageable, and that it's a common name to go by widespread."
"If you don't mind, I think I'll just call you Mort. I don't want to slip up and call you Death in public, that would turn some heads, don't you think? So why not choose the next closest thing?" Harry smiled at the entity's sentence, he knew he should be scared, quivering under the entity's intense gaze, now that he knew who the creature- man? was fully aware that they were not just a visitor like what happened with Dumbledore like last time.
He felt like he should treat the being like an old-time friend and not like something he should be scared of.
Getting up, Harry saw Mort turn his head slowly in confusion "Mort? The root word for death?"
Harry stumbled over his words "Well it's just that- um, you currently look human uh semi-human," Harry looked over the being, both hands were skeletal to the halfway mark of their arms, bones being held by black mist, body hidden with a long cloak pinned with gold chains and a small golden sand hourglass hung from their neck, hood covering their face barely showing the nose and the skeletal jaw of Death. Their eyes glowed white with mirth. "right now so- and name means death a-and-"
"Don't worry, I get it master... I quite like it~ Now onto my answers for you both as to why the horcrux Tom is still with you, is because Riddle's soul had been attached to your soul for so long that it decided to just... merge with yours to become one as a whole, making you a human Horcrux... but not at the same time? Quiet confusing to think of. I'll just have to think of this as a soul mate of some kind... Now I realize that I can never touch that soul peace of this world Riddle inside of you without killing your soul outright... Don't seem so frazzled master, I won't and can't do that to you, master. You're different from others that I reapered. And don't mean that with the Hallows attached making you my 'master'." Mort shook his head and then lifted his head to stare at the galactic sky, exhaling, causing smoke particles to drift lazily out from beneath the dark hood.
Harry stared off into the sky with Mort, comforting the child beneath him with his hand on top of the kid's head.
Harry narrowed, eyes and snapped instantly to the figure next to him "I just realized something-" The hooded man glanced down, their soulless eyes now glew with a speck of icy blue, peered from the slight opening of the cloak "Why have you been calling me master? You're an all and powerful being, I'm no one's master, I don't want to control or command you- or anyone for that matter, so why start now?" Harry muttered the last part, his narrow eyes staring straight into the black abyss that now occupied Mort's eyes.
Breaking eye contact, Harry crouched down to pick up the child below him, not willing to part with the child- This was Voldemort, his brain echoed... And now he was being- being motherly to him...
Motherly...
Harry gazed down at the child that he housed in his arms, eyes gleaming brightly as he saw Tom press his face to his collarbone.
The entity next to him had adapted a look of amusement "I call you 'master' of my accords, those Hallows were made only for the brothers that had cheated me and escaped their death. Sadly for them, and great for me it didn't matter in the long run as they soon met that demise everyone has to come to in the end. One took longer to meet it as he soon past one of the Hallows to his child and lived a fulfilling life. And after all that he just... walked straight to me when his time was up..." Shaking his head Mort continued
"Your family, the Potters are from Ignotus' line, you inherited my cloak from your father. In the stories your kind thinks that the main Peverell line died out but it hadn't, just its name as there was a lack of men in the family to carry the family name on in the success of Ignotus. I have always longed to see the children of his line, he was a personal favorite of mine and then along with his children. But now a new favorite of mine is you explicitly. Not just because you were the first to unite all the Hallows together, even when I was always watched over you from the moment you were born. I felt that you had more to you than just magic, and Riddle casting that Killing curse explained it all to me, you managed to escape my grasp not once, not twice, but multiple times. And as you survived the killing curse as mortals say should be impossible. All of that was a sign to watch over you more closely... Does that make sense to you?" Mort stopped talking as he peered down at Harry, getting a nod Mort smiled softly down at Harry "Even though you are from Lily and James you have a lot of features that are to Ignotus"
Blinking, Harry looked puzzled before looking down at the sleeping child in his arms "People say I look a lot like James- identical even 'sept for my eyes.. Why Ignotus specifically?" he muttered, shifting slightly as he felt Mort touch the side of his cheek with one of his cold bony fingers.
"Your features are that of your sire James and your beautiful eyes that of the brightest emerald- that's of Lilies - And the glow that of the killing curse. Ignotus had that exact look to him- minus the eyes" Mort's eyes glowed icy blue again. Smoke drifted out of his mouth and into the air. Mort shifted his head up to look at a distant pillar of the train station, head tilted as if he heard a chime of a bell ringing down that way. His dotted eyes shifted to the child that clung to Harry's body like a sloth. Mort sighed again, causing the smoke to seep out of his hood and disappear into the air.
Turning a little, Mort put his skeletal hand to the sleeping child's head. Mort nodded to Harry "It's time for your departure, I'll be keeping the child with me until you're ready to call on me again, master" Harry nodded up at Mort but then frowned as he looked back down at Tom, sleepy chocolate eyes peered up at him though the strands of hair before snuggling back down into Harry's neck.
"Is- is there a way to take Tom with me?" Harry blinked... why did he say that.
Mort laughed softly "Addicted to the little munchkin already that you instinctively said that out loud, such motherly love, dear~?"
Huffing and puffing Harry blushed heavily, shamelessly, Harry nodded "I just, never had a mother to love me.. 'sept for Molly but you know...- and nether did Tom- Voldemort, even though he was part of Voldemort's soul, Tom has been with me for basically my whole life. Why would I push away that part of me." The raven-haired man muttered the last bit as he stroked Tom's hair.
Mort looked down at Harry and sighed, defeated when he saw the loving look in Harry's eyes "There is a way for you to take the soul with you, though, mind you, not like this as it would create some... let's say... difficulty's." Stepping in front of Harry, he wrapped a tight hold around the living man and placed a bony hand on Tom's head. Looking down, Mort gave Harry a confident look with his somewhat human features that meld more to his white skeletal face, giving himself lips "He'll be fine with you then, my dear" the cloaked being's eyes glowing. Tom's body shifted, his little eye peaked up at the entity. His small form destraughted a little and shrunk in Mort's hand until a misty symbol of the Deathly Hallow appeared before the mist shrunk down into the chain that turned solid in his palm, the peace was a golden two-way piercing with a chain connected to the gold thick sleepers with one holding the dangling peace of the Deathly Hallow symbol.
Smiling Mort dropped the Earring into Harry's open palm.
"T-Tom still there- right?" Harry asked looking down at the shiny gold earring in a panic.
"Yes, he's still the same as if he was still in your scar, not to worry" Mort smiled reassuringly at Harry, tugging his hair slightly.
Harry smiled but then frowned "Would Tom be able to gain control of my body if I would put the earring in, like diary Tom..?" Harry questioned the entity, wanting to make sure he wouldn't get possessed by the earing.
"No, you seen how he acted with you. The Tom you see in the diary had no experience with human emotions beyond who interacted with the diary and before he got spit from his main source. Emotions like love and kindness were not shown a lot to him. The diary used manipulation and cunningness to achieve a body of its own. But your Tom, this is a new chapter for him, for a fresh new start with someone to care for him. And as I said, he has been attached to your soul for so long, that your soul overpowers his, you have more control of your body than he does, as you have more of a soul than himself. Dear, look at me... give these Toms your love and care in any way possible, they deserve some at least..."
Mort looked down at the earring, their thumb patted the rings. "This Tom never really yearned to have a physical body of his own. If he did, he would have taken over your body as soon as his soul was healed up enough to overthrow your weak body. But as you were both just children at the time, he would have grown up alongside you and your human body but with the memories of his old self, I think it would have conflicted his mind as he was inside the body of a child but with the mind of an adult."
Just as Harry clipped the Horcrux into his ear, they both looked to the station's edge, Harry was startled to see a train coming into port from the mist "But on the short end, we'll talk later. You call, I'll come. But for now, it's time for you to go. Take care both of you and I hope you don't get killed so soon" Mort ushered Harry over to the steam train "This is the chance to give you and Tom a somewhat of a normal life, take care of the Munchkin, okay dear and please make friends, the both of you." Harry turned his head to the tall being as he chuckled at the thought.
"You sound like a parent sending their child off to school for the very first time, kind of like Mrs. Weasley" Harry smiled as he thought of his best friend's mother who had taken care of him when no one else would. He wondered how they all were coping after the war...
"Well, I'm just looking out for you dear. You're the first living thing after Ignotus to greet me like a normal being." Mort smiled widely down at Harry "It's time" They whispered, cold misty lips pressed to Harry's temple for a moment to then push Harry lightly into the mouth of the doorway.
"Thank you, Mort, for giving me the chance to give Tom a better life. I'll do my best to help and protect him no matter what." Harry smiled, hugging the tall being in thanks before trotting into the train cart. Mist drifted out into the air as the train slowly took off from the platform.
Lights of the galactic sky swirled in Harry's vision.
As the train departed, Death's skeletal figure and human anatomy melted off with a wave of black muck, leaving dusty smog of wings and tentacles sprouting from the god's back once no prying eyes were on it as they sludge off into the distance opposite to the departed train.
Mort's mind wandered off 'I just want you to live your life to the fullest, you never had a good childhood and had to grow up fast, to see stuff kids your age should never have to witness. But I'm hoping that you can give Riddle the love he needs...And maybe give yourself the peace you need as well"
With the rustle of their smoky limbs, Death disappeared with a trail of black vapor.