the gift of death

chapter one: the golden gates of home {year one: the summer, part one}

A golden light shines from around the city, spinning to envelope Harry in a golden cocoon, seemed to be made of hundreds of thousands of individual strands, each coming from a different person, all of them dropping instantly—

He drifts back....back...back..back back back backbackbackback—

And then he lurches to a stop.

Harry suddenly lurches to a stop, his vision coming back moments later. He sits in the middle of a smoldering forest, the trees bent outwards from his impact into the ground. He flicks his hand, casting the Tempus spell nonverbally and wandlessly.

Monday; July 1st, 1991

10:31 am

He hums and casts another spell, this one to tell him where he was, in relation to a point of his choosing. He selected Potter Manor, as he assumes his ten-year-old self would have disappeared from wherever he was in the past when he appeared, therefore it made sense for him to (eventually) be revealed as living in Potter Manor. He'd have to ask the Goblins for help, but they were always happy to help him, and he would have to change some memories, but overall his plan was sound..

"Point me, Potter Manor.." He murmured, picking up a twig from the forest floor. It spun around, and then pointed towards the old family manor. The only reason this spell would work was because he was of Potter family blood; otherwise, it would've gone haywire.

Despite what Dumbledore had told him, Harry knew that the manor hadn't been damaged during the war; it was nigh on impossible to get into a Pureblood's Ancestral Manor, as the building was coated in so many wards that the ambient magic felt like amber, or molasses. It was why an underage wizard could cast magic with a wand there—there was too much interference that the Ministry brushed it off as the ambient magic of the home.

It was approaching noon when Harry finally reached the gates of the manor. They appeared to be a shining gold color, watched over by two (stone) griffins, who were perched atop a steep wall. Instead of the gothic gate and fence of the Malfoy (or Black) manor, the Potter's had a white-washed stone wall, with cream-colored bricks. Ivy had grown on it's walls however, Harry did not climb it for fear that something would eat him. As he was contemplating how to get into the manor, one of the cream-colored stone griffins suddenly yawns, it's eagle-like head turning to the last Potter. It blinks, and spreads it's wings, leaping off of it's perch with it's strong leonine back legs.

A house elf appeared, her ocean blue eyes widening in shock. "M-Master?" She asked, her magic recognizing him as her master, because he is the last of the Potter's. She was wearing a dark crimson outfit, with the Potter family crest (a roaring griffon, with the words Sol ille arbitrium sempre ascendo adversus ille tenebræ under it) stitched in gold. "I is being Adara. Who is you?" The griffin flies back, and settles back to watching the golden gate.

Harry chuckles, and prepares to tell her his full name, "I am your new master, yes. My full name—with titles—is Heir Hadrian James Potter-Black-Peverell-Gryffindor-Slytherin. I have a few other titles, but they aren't really important." He feels a vaguely offended feeling from Ade, because he listed Master of Death as 'not really important.' 'Stuff it, you presumptuous git—I don't want to overwhelm the poor thing!' He gets a feeling of amusement, before they move away, focusing on something else.

Adara nodded, seemingly proud of having someone like him as her new master. "If Master bes following me, I will take you into the Manor."

Harry nods, opening the gate after allowing an Unlocking Charm to flow through his fingers. He pulls it open, noting how it doesn't creak as it opens. "I see that you've been taking care of the place." He notes, a pleased note entering his voice.