Harry sipped his drink and rubbed the back of his neck. It was too late to take a nap, but too early to go to bed. This was the first year all of the kids were in Hogwarts. He and Ginny would have the house to themselves. In fact, to celebrate Ginny had bought him a special vintage of whiskey.
His eyes were getting heavier with every passing moment. He moved to put the glass down only to realize he couldn't move his fingers. Harry's head flopped to the side. His tongue felt thick in his mouth. Pulses of darkness threatened to overtake his vision.
"Harry." Ginny spoke from somewhere in the room. "Can you hear me?"
A spike of worry mingled with hope pushed against the darkness. He could see her moving nearby. She kneeled in front of him.
"Damn it, Harry." She yelled at him. "You weren't supposed to drink that until Christmas."
He vaguely felt her shaking him.
"I had it all planned out." She let go, letting him slump forward. "It would be a charmed card saying it was from Ron. I'd take a picture of you holding it up." Ginny kicked the chair. "Hold it together, Gin. This can still work."
Harry stood up as he watched as his wife stomped out of the room. The flood of numbness was gone. What should have been a moment of relief was soured when he looked down. His body was crumpled on the floor.
"That was disappointing." A woman said from behind him.
Harry turned to face the source. A young woman stared back at him. She looked familiar in the sort of way as someone he saw going about his day. An accidental shared look in the lobby, pressing the elevator button on a hurried morning. He wouldn't spare a second glace on any normal day.
"I know you." Harry said slowly.
"We've worked closely for a long time." A coy smiled played on her lips as she nodded.
Their eyes met. A flash of their interactions in the past rushed through his memory. She was there for his parents, she took Quirrell, she watched as Harry stumbled away from the basilisk, she glared at the dementors. Time and time again, she appeared in his life.
"Death." Harry stated.
"Nice to see you again, Harry." She smiled back at him.
"Again?" He asked.
"You were almost mine more than you know." She walked around him, sitting in the chair by his body. "There are the big ones, of course. Getting bitten by the basilisk, facing down a horde of dementor, and all those times with Riddle and his minions. But it's the little ones that everyone forgets. You have no idea how many times you almost died during Quidditch. Or how often the basilisk venom running through your veins saved you from being poisoned. This isn't the first time that your beloved wife has tried to dose you."
"When was the first?" He asked.
"Your honeymoon." Death replied. "It was going to be a tragic accident. She is really sold on the tainted gift idea."
They were interrupted as Ginny entered the room. She had a wand he had never seen before. A few small spells later had a charmed gift tag affixed to the bottle. She then removed all aspects of her magical signature from the bottle. Ginny went through the process with practiced ease.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"She's been dosing you with love potions for years." Death hopped up, she patted him on the shoulder. "Memory altering ones too. The kids are yours, but not hers. She didn't want to ruin her figure."
"Who's the mother?" Harry asked.
"Hermione." Death stated.
Harry's heart sank. "She stole that from us?"
"No." Death started to walk away. "She was in on it."
Harry turned to look at her. "What?"
"Her kids are yours too." Death said. "A little blood magic and their hair turned out red instead of black."
"Ron?" Harry asked.
"He's clueless." Death waved a hand at him to follow. "He'll probably be dead within a year. I think they're trying to pin this on Ron, and have it come out that he discovered the truth about you and his wife." She shrugged. "It's not the most elegant plan, but it fits Ron."
Harry followed her for a bit. He realized a moment later that the room wasn't big enough for the distance they had traveled. Pulling himself back to the present he found that they were in a different kind of study. It was a mashup of the Gryffindor common room and the break room at the Ministry during his training days. Death flopped down into a comfy chair.
"What happens now?" Harry asked.
"That is up to you, oh Master of Death." She giggled. "You can move on from this mortal coil, or I can send you back."
"Send me back, how?" Harry sat in a chair facing her. "Going back to a murderous wife and someone I thought was my friend isn't something I find appealing."
"I would hope not." She rolled her eyes. "I can send you back to any moment you have died before."
"You said I had almost died." Harry narrowed his eyes at her.
"Almost died." She wiggled her fingers. "Dead for a moment or two. Same difference."
Harry sighed. "Fine. What are my choices?"
"That's what I like about you, boss." She hopped up. "You roll with the punches. Think on your feet."
Harry lifted his glasses and pinched his nose.
"Look here." Death pulled a book from a nearby shelf. "These are your options."
Harry opened the book. Instead of a list like he had expected each was a snapshot in time. The first was him as an infant, the air around him was tinted the telltale green of the killing curse.
"No thanks." He flipped to the next page.
"I cut out the little moments." Death added. "It would be a waste to send you back to that time you almost choked on oatmeal."
"A waste?" Harry asked. "That sounds fine to me."
"I might make this look easy, but it takes a lot out of me." Death huffed. "The Deathly Hallows channel a small portion my power. Such a small moment would have devastating consequences."
"How?" Harry asked. "I'm choking on oatmeal one moment, and the next I'm fine."
"I'm sending your essences, your soul as it is now, back to a point in time. Not only that, but dying has removed all those blockages, potions, and compulsions. And, that chunk of Tommy Boy is going to burst once you head back. Shoving all of that into a mostly full you would, for lack of a better analogy, pop you like an overfilled balloon."
"I get what you're saying about potions, but compulsions and blockages?" Harry asked.
"One second." Death turned back to the nearby bookshelf. She flipped through some before pulling out a scroll that looked like it was about to flake away. "Here."
Passive Magical Core Syphon - Horcrux (Tom Riddle)
Core Output Limiter - Spell (Albus Dumbledore)
Loyalty Compulsion (Weasley) - Potion (Albus Dumbledore)
Loyalty Compulsion (Dumbledore) - Potion (Albus Dumbledore)
Cynicism Compulsion (Lordship) - Potion (Albus Dumbledore)
Love Potion Poisoning - Stage One - Potion (Molly Weasley)
Love Potion Poisoning - Stage Three - Potion (Ginny Weasley)
Family Magic Limiter - Spell (Albus Dumbledore)
Active Magical Core Syphon - Spell (Albus Dumbledore)
Residual Memory Damage - Spell (Albus Dumbledore)
Compounded Memory Damage - Spell (Hermione Granger)
Emotional Focus - Contempt - Aura (Albus Dumbledore)
Emotional Focus - Dismiss - Aura (Albus Dumbledore)
Emotional Focus - Impulsive - Spell (Albus Dumbledore)
"Holy fuck." Harry whispered.
"Yeah." Death nodded.
"Can you explain some of this?" Harry asked.
"Like what?"
"Most of it." Harry leaned back in his chair.
"The horcrux was blocking your magic." Death pointed at the item. "There was a constant part of your magical core that was fighting against it. As you can see, Dumbledore didn't help things. His spell not blocked more of your growth but actually stole some of it. It's impressive spell work honestly. A little slip up would have made it so you didn't have access to your magic."
Harry gave her a blank look.
"Here." She pointed at the other list. "All of the effects by Dumbledore were done with master level implementation. His potions left no residual damage, his limiters didn't raise any alarms, and his auras are so subtle that no one would even question it. You aren't the first person he's done this too. This type of proficiency only comes from a lot of practice. The only reason he left any memory damage was from due to Hermione poking around."
"What is an emotional focus aura?" Harry asked.
"It's like a cloud that surrounds you." Death explained. "Anyone who come in contact with it will have their contempt and dismissal enhanced. It won't make someone who was in love with you suddenly hate you. It locks onto those small doubts, those little annoyances, and feeds them."
Harry blanched. A flood of moments in his life rushed to the front of his memory. Every time teachers and neighbors just ignored the signs when he was at the Dursleys. How often the entire student body of Hogwarts turned on him for any reason. The blatant loathing Snape held for him, and how no one did anything about it. As much as he hated to admit it, he could understand the Ministry wanting to discredit him. They were scared but sending dementors after him and allowing Umbridge to torture students was so far beyond that.
"Fuck. Shit. Jesus." Harry muttered.
"Fuck, shit, Jesus is right kid." Death booped him on the nose. "Any other questions?"
"All of that will be gone when I go back?" Harry asked.
"Yep."
"And how do I stop if from happening again?" Harry looked up at her. "Dumbledore will notice something has changed. He will want to fix it as soon as he could."
"You're the Master of Death." She stood up, spreading her arms. "You are beyond mortal men."
Harry looked up at her.
"Fine." She grumbled. "Now that you have properly activated your privileges as 'the master of death' you will be protected from such meddling. Just say your Potter Family Ring has mental shields."
"The 'master of death' stuff will stop Legilimency?" Harry asked.
"Hard to read the mind of a dead man." Death grinned.
Harry put the scroll down. He began to flip through the options again. The next choice after his baby picture was the time he choked on the snitch. It was tempting, but he did not want to deal with Quirrell again. Oddly enough, the next choice was a moment after killing the professor. He showed it to Death.
"The specter of Tom hit you full force." Death explained. "For a moment, you were mine."
Harry nodded. He turned the next page and laughed. Young Harry was hanging from the door of a flying car. He had forgotten about that. Second year was tempting. He could stop the basilisk before it got too far. However, death did say the venom running through his veins had actually prevented him from getting poisoned.
He looked at the next point in time. It was one he remembered well. The younger Harry held the diary in his lap, Fawkes sat on his shoulder. A tear was suspended in the air between the phoenix and the open wound on his arm. He slipped his finger onto the page, bookmarking it for later.
The moments after that were moments that stuck out in his mind, but slightly altered. A dementor held him by the shoulders, Remus had him by neck, the dragon was faster than he expected, the gillyweed didn't kick in fast enough, then the killing curse hit him instead of Cedric.
Harry took a deep breath. He tore his gaze from the book, trying to bring himself back to the moment at hand. It didn't help much, he was dead, looking through the worst moments in his life.
He flipped back to the basilisk.
"This one." Harry showed death.
"Are you sure?" Death asked.
Harry nodded.
"Brace yourself." Death raised her hands with her palms open toward him. "It was nice to finally meet you. Just do me a favor."
"What's that?"
"Don't hurry back." Death smiled at him.