Three Hallows' Eve || Harmione & Jily

Chapter 2.1

Chapter Two - The Between

A blinding white light had James squinting just as soon as he'd opened his eyes. It was bright and brilliant, slightly wispy and completely bizarre. He had no idea where he was but his surroundings did look somewhat familiar to him. The lack of colour, though, meant that he couldn't actually discern anything beyond vague shapes, the almost-recognition of which niggled at the back of his mind as thoughts that refused to be brought forth.

Slowly, his memory of the events that had led to his arrival here - wherever here was - came flooding into his mind. Halloween night. Making tea. The wards falling. Lily, take Harry and go! The door. Red eyes. Green light. Pure white.

Dead then, he figured, though the realisation wasn't nearly as troubling or concerning as he thought it really might have been. Of course, as soon as that thought crossed his mind he was filled with an immeasurable guilt at having left Lily and Harry behind. Hopefully they'd forgive him when they got here. Not for a long time, he thought with a strange mixture of sadness and hopefulness.

He took stock of his body and found it thankfully in one piece, though he was naked. That had probably taken him too long to notice, but as soon as he had, he wished for something to cover himself up with. As though summoned by his thoughts alone, he was suddenly clothed in a white robe. It wasn't until he'd finished adjusting his new outfit that he realised he wasn't wearing his glasses. Oddly, he felt more naked without those than he had felt without the clothing.

A set of light footsteps approached him from behind and were soon accompanied by a voice before James had a chance to turn around and face their owner. 'Though I doubt it's much of a consolation, you won't be without your family for very long.' The voice was rich and deeply baritone, its timbre reverberating through his chest and causing an insuppressible shiver to crawl down his spine.

He rose from his knees and turned to face the newcomer. The man standing before him was really quite tall - he had a good foot on James, at least - and so thin as to look unhealthily so. His face was long and his cheeks looked almost hollow. Tendons and veins were clearly visible against the pallored surface of his neck. A loose-fitting black robe hung from his shoulders down to the floor, where it bunched and collected. His eyes possessed no colour - no iris or whites. Instead, they were pure black, as though they were composed entirely of perfectly spherical and all-seeing pupils.

At a glance, the man didn't look like he'd be very kind, but he wore what was unmistakably a sympathetic smile on his face as he inclined his head, motioning to James's right side. On the white floor beside him, the naked form of Lily with Harry in her arms was slowly becoming visible; the thick, ethereal mist that seemed to surround the area had formed a veil of sorts, which was ebbing and receding from the rest of his family. A stray tear traced down his cheek as he noted how peaceful they both looked in death.

Like a light suddenly turning on, James made the connection then. He looked up at the stranger who had approached him. Death. The man, or being's, face had taken on a pained countenance as he looked down at the recently-departed mother and son.

James spoke finally, unmistakable grief laced through his quiet voice as he asked the question he least wanted confirmation for. 'We all died then?'

Death remained silent for a moment, still gazing at the two on the floor before he waved his hand and dressed them both in robes similar to those that James had found himself wearing. He hummed thoughtfully then and looked back up to James as he replied to the question. 'Not quite.'

'James?'

Lily had woken up beside him, blinking and straining her eyes against the bright white light that seemed to permeate wherever they were.

'Lily,' he breathed thickly as he knelt down next to her. She was struggling to sit up with Harry still asleep in her arms so he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, helping her up and holding them both close. 'I'm so sorry,' he whispered.

She looked up at him blearily, her regret and grief written clearly in the brilliant eyes that she'd given to their son. 'Me too,' she whispered in reply before lowering her lips to the top of Harry's head. 'I'm sorry he didn't get more of a chance.'

'Well, that's not exactly the case,' rumbled the deep baritone once more. Lily shifted in his arms and turned her head to find the source of the voice. Obviously, she hadn't noticed that they weren't alone.

James cleared his throat. 'Lily, this is - well - this is Death.'

Her eyes darted to his in surprise. 'Death?' she questioned so softly that her voice was barely audible.

'Death,' said the tall man by way of confirmation. 'But I'm not here to take the three of you just yet.'

'Then...' James started, but found that no more words would make themselves available to him. He shook his head as though to clear it and settled on a confused, 'What?'

Death gave a small amused smile. 'Tell me, do you know the Tale of the Three Brothers?'

James's eyes widened. 'Of course,' he said at the same time as Lily frowned and questioned 'What's that?'

He looked at her, shocked. 'It's an old children's tale. I'd have thought you'd read it.'

'Why would I read wizard's fairy tales?'

It was a good question, he realised as he cocked his head consideringly. 'Mum read it to me when I was a boy. Basically, it's about three brothers who thought they had beat Death, and how Death took his revenge.' James looked up at Death warily then and found him looking down at them with interest. The man gently sat himself down on the floor to be closer to their level before gesturing for James to continue.

'The story goes that three brothers were travelling and came across a river whose currents were too strong to cross. They were all wizards, of course, so they conjured a bridge over the water but before they could cross fully, Death appeared before them. Angry though he was that they hadn't died like all of the other travellers that attempted to cross previously, Death pretended to congratulate them and offered each of them a prize for their efforts.

'The eldest brother was cocky and requested a wand better than any other - one worthy of the man who had conquered Death. So Death took a branch from a nearby Elder tree and fashioned it into the most powerful wand in existence before presenting it to the brother. The middle brother wanted to rub their victory in Death's face even more, and so asked for the power to recall the dead to the land of the living. From the riverbank, Death took a stone that had been smoothed by the water and gave it to the middle brother. The youngest brother was humble and wise and requested something that would allow him to go forth from the bridge without being followed by Death. Reluctantly, Death gave his own Invisibility Cloak to the youngest brother.

'Then, Death allowed the three brothers to continue on their way. After a while of travelling the three brothers separated, heading for different destinations.

'The first brother ended up in a village and duelled somebody he'd previously had some grievance with. With his new wand in hand, he of course won the duel and left the man dead on the floor. In the inn that night, he boasted loudly about the wand that Death had given him to everybody that would listen. At the end of the night, once he was asleep, another wizard snuck into his room and stole the wand, slitting the eldest brother's throat. And so Death took the first brother for his own.

'The second brother travelled back to his home. There, using the stone, he recalled a girl with whom he had fallen in love before her untimely death. She didn't return fully though, and was silent and cold. It was like there was a veil separating them. Her suffering and his own longing caused the second brother to kill himself so he could really be with her. And so Death took the second brother for his own.

'For years, Death searched for the youngest brother, but he was nowhere to be found. It took until the youngest brother had grown old before he finally took off the Invisibility Cloak and gave it to his son before Death finally found him. At that point, he greeted Death like an old friend and passed on with him willingly.'