Harry looked around the dark void he found himself in. He didn't know what else to call it, other than a place of absolute nothingness. He had been walking for what felt like hours, but as he looked around, it didn't feel like he'd moved a single step in any direction, nor could he tell how far he had walked.
'It can't just be nothingness,'Harry thought, clinging to the hope that there had to be something here, and if he walked far enough, he would eventually find it.
'Maybe it's like my mind,'he thought, concentrating, picture a door leading him out of this place as he used the techniques Merlin taught him, but nothing appeared.
He turned around, looking in the direction he came from, feeling trapped. It made no difference which direction he went. There were no barriers, no walls, nothing.'Why didn't Merlin tell me about this?'he thought, wondering why the ancient wizard would have kept something like this from him.
After a long moment, with only his own thoughts echoing in his mind, he heard something. It was feint, almost silent.
He wondered if it was his mind playing tricks on him, but the sound slowly grew louder. He narrowed his eyes, looking around. It was a clicking noise, the sound of someone walking, that's when he saw it, the feint outline of someone far off in the distance walking towards him.
He could see a silhouette of them, a figure wearing a dark robe. Instinctively, he reached for his wand, only to remember it wasn't there. He took a step back, calling upon his magic, but it didn't respond to him either, as if it didn't exist in this place.
Harry squinted as the figure drew closer, seeing that it was a woman. He could see her face. It was pale, and her hair was black, seamlessly blending in to the darkness around her.
"Who are you?" he demanded, as the woman came to a stop in front of him. "What is this place?"
"Hello Harry," the woman said softly, a small smile appearing on her face. "I know what you're thinking," she revealed. "And you're not dead, but certainly not from lack of trying," she admonished lightly. "This placed is called the In-between," she explained. "It's a bridge between life and death."
"If I'm not dead…" Harry asked, his lips feeling dry as he stared at the woman in front of him.'No,'he thought.'She isn't just a woman. She's something else, something more...'
He didn't know how, but he could sense an immense power from her, something beyond the primordial, dwarfing even the power he sensed from Morgan.
This was the kind of being capable of tearing entire worlds to shreds without breaking a sweat, but unlike Morgan, he didn't sense any malevolence from her, making her even more of a mystery.
"Why am I here?" the woman said, finishing his question, a friendly smile on her face to which he could only nod. "I wanted to see you, and this place, it allows me to do that."
"What do you want with me?" Harry asked, finding his voice again. "Who are you?"
The woman titled her head, taking a long look at him, but it wasn't threatening. It was almost nurturing. She met his eyes, memorizing his features. "I am Lady Death," she revealed.
Harry took a step back, his eyes widening. She was telling the truth, every instinct he had told him that.
"It's ok," Death said comfortingly, her eyes softening as she placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "You have nothing to fear from me, Harry. I would never harm you," she said reassuringly.
"…Why did you bring me here?" Harry asked, feeling out of his depth as he stared at a woman that was the literal embodiment of death itself.
Lady Death said nothing as she took a step closer, placing her hand on Harry's cheek as she held his gaze, staring at him for a long moment, before stepping back. "Forgive me Harry," she said softly. "I know this must feel strange to you, but I have been waiting a very, very long to see you."
"You know what I am," Harry realized. "Why I'm not like everyone else."
"I do," Death agreed.
"Are there other like me?" Harry asked, desperate for the answers he and his previous incarnations had been asking themselves for millennia, hoping there was someone to share this burned with.
"No," Death admitted, the smile slipping from her lips, looking both apologetic and sad at the same time. "There is no one quite like you, Harry."
"You look sad," Harry observed, wondering what he could have done to upset a primordial force of the universe.
"Yes, I suppose I am," Death agreed, forcing the smile back onto her face. "I've been looking forward to this moment," she explained. "But now that it's here, I know it will be over far too soon."
"I need to know why," Harry said, echoing the words of every one of his previous incarnations. "Why am I like this? Why is it that when I die, I reincarnate, when no one else does?"
"I know you do," Death replied with a sigh. "You have no idea how much I wish I could tell you these things."
"Then why don't you?" Harry asked, his eyes pleading.
"You have work to do, Harry," Death replied. "Things that won't happen if I tell you what you want to know."
"I don't care," Harry replied, feeling selfish for saying it, but pushed forward regardless. He had to know what made him the way he was, the reason for his existence.
"But you do care, Harry," Death replied, a sad smile on her face. "Merlin told you what was coming. He showed you his memories."
"Why do you care about that?" Harry asked, desperate for answers. "I thought… I mean," he stammered, unable to finish the sentence as he looked at Death.
"That because I am death, I wish to see people die," Death replied softly.
Harry nodded, not trusting himself to speak and risk insulting her.
"It's not quite that simple, Harry," Death explained. "The universe is all about balance," she explained. "Light can not exist without dark, good can not exist without evil, order cannot exist without chaos, and life can not exist without death."
"Merlin said something bad was going to happen, but not what," Harry replied. "Is that why I'm here? Has something happened to the balance?"
"You're clever, Harry," Death said with a wry smile. "To figure out so much, with only a few words to guide you. I've always liked that about you, but those are questions I can't answer," she said firmly.
"There must be something you can tell me," Harry said, feeling as if Death's non-answer was an answer in itself.
"Knowledge is power Harry," Death explained. "And the inner workings of the universe are power beyond reckoning for those who know how to harness it. All it would take is one slip of the tongue to the wrong being, and they could use that knowledge to unravel the universe itself."
Harry sighed, accepting he wouldn't get anymore out of Death than that. "You brought me here for a reason. You can at least tell me that, right?"
"I brought you here to speak with you about a book you read when you were younger. The Tales of Beedle the Bard," Death replied.
"The Deathly Hollows," Harry breathed, his eyes widening. It was the only thing that made sense, the only story in the book Death would have any interest in. "Are they real?"
Death nodded. "You've already found one of them, and for a time, you were close to another," she replied. "But you'll need to find, and unite them all."
Harry furrowed his brows in confusion. He knew about the wand, the cloak, and the stone, but even after searching his memories, he couldn't remember coming across any of them. His own wand was powerful, but he never got the sense that it was the Elder wand, and if it was, Merlin had never mentioned it.
"I know this is frustrating for you," Death acknowledged, "and I wish I could tell you more, but there are rules, rules even I must follow, but I can tell you this much. The next time you see them, you will recognize them for what they are."
"Why would you tell me to find them?" Harry asked, still confused as he thought about the story. "Wouldn't that make me…"
Death threw her head back, a large smile on her face as she laughed mirthfully. "The Master of Death?" She asked, continuing to laugh. "No Harry, nothing so grandiose," she shook her head, getting herself back under control. "The story had been embellished in the re-tellings, to say the least. No, the Hollows hold no power over me, but I can tell you the true story of Hollows if you'd like."
"Yes, please," Harry said, nodding his head vigorously. He had learned more in this brief conversation with Death than anything he could find in any library the world over, and was eager to learn more.
"The first thing you should know is about the brothers themselves," Death continued. "I can understand why they are depicted as brothers. In a sense they were, but not in the way everyone believes."
"What were they, then?" Harry asked, feeling that the distinction was important since Death went out of her way to mention it.
"You are the brothers, Harry," Death revealed. "They are your previous incarnations, and I met each at different times in the past."
Harry gaped, that one revelation alone creating a dizzying amount of other questions in his mind. "What? Why? Why would you give them anything?"
"Much like you," Death said with a fond smile. "They also had a taste for adventure, and didn't have the stomach to stand idly by in the face of injustice."
"The first of your incarnations I met was Antioch," Death continued. "He was the one I gifted the elder wand to."
"What did he do with it?" Harry asked, curiously.
"It was many thousands of years ago," Death explained. "He was dealing with a situation very similar to the one you just dealt with, and without the wand, he would have failed."
"What happened?"
"There is a being, Dormammu. He, amongst others, are always trying to expand their realms of influence. He set his sights on your world. Antioch sought a weapon powerful enough to stop his invasion. That is when I happened upon him, and gave him the wand."
"Obviously he succeeded, earning fame and renown wherever he went," Death continued. "But his new power made him arrogant, and worst of all complacent. In the years that followed, he amassed a certain… reputation."
"He felt invincible. His arrogance growing with each passing day, and while he was never outright cruel, he turned many friends against him."
"This eventually put a target on his back, and when the time came, he was alone, killed in the night while he slept, the wand stolen from him. Since then, the wand has been cutting a bloody swath throughout history."
"None of my other incarnations tried to get it back?" Harry asked in surprise.
"A few of them," Death agreed. "But finding the wand is easier said than done. It has changed hands many times over the centuries, getting lost, then rediscovered again, and again."
"Did you know that would happen when you gave it to Antioch?" Harry asked.
"As powerful as I am, Harry, I'm not omniscient, but I did suspect it was a possibility when I spoke to him," Death replied.
"And you still gave it to him, knowing that?" Harry asked. "Why didn't you take it back after he defeated Dormammu?"
"Antioch would have lost without the wand," Death reminded him. "And the world as you know it would not exist, but to answer your question, a gift of my creation can not simply be returned or even destroyed, even by me. It will go on existing until the end of time itself."
Harry nodded, intrigued by the true story of the hollows, wondering if Merlin knew anything about it.
"It was much later that I met Ignotus," Death continued. I always liked him. After I told him the story of your previous incarnation, and your penchant for finding trouble, he asked for something that would help him escape Antioch's fate, so I gave him the cloak."
"It wasn't Cadmus next?" Harry asked intrigued. The story, in all its different versions always credited Ignotus as the last one to receive a gift from Death, not the second.
"No," Death replied with a chuckle. "Someone decided a long time ago that it sounded better narratively for Ignotus to be the younger 'brother,' and it stuck."
"And did he avoid his fate?" Harry asked, wondering if Ignotus was the exception and truly lived an uneventful life.
"He did, for a time," Death revealed. "Ignotus was happy for a many years. He married, even had a son. His wife passed one winter on his son's fifth birthday. Despite his sorrow, he and his son lived happily for another five years before the king that ruled their lands discovered the village was harboring magicals.
The king was a cruel and tyrannical man that hated magic with every fiber of his being. He sent his soldiers to raze the village to the ground as punishment, ordering them to kill every man, woman, and child they found.
Ignotus could not let this stand, not when so many innocents were in danger. The village was poor, mostly known for fishing. None of them knew how to fight, so Ignotus trained those he could.
He bought time for the villagers to flee, but knew the soldiers would be on the lookout for his son. He gifted him the cloak and forced him to flee while he held off the soldiers. He died that day protecting the innocent," Death finished softly.
"And his son?" Harry asked, wondering about his fate.
"He lived," Death smiled, "to a ripe old age. When he died, he was surrounded by his wife, his children, and his grandchildren, welcoming me like an old friend in his last moments."
Harry smiled, glad that his incarnation had succeeded in protecting the person he loved most, and also intrigued by how much of the true story had been lost to time.
"It was again, much later than I met Cadmus," Death continued. "He was different from most of your other incarnations, far more interested in healing than fighting. He gained quite a reputation in his time, with people coming to him from far and wide seeking treatment."
"He swore off violence in all his forms, and expected to live a long and peaceful life, but rarely are your incarnations granted such luxuries," Death continued, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"He got wind of an illness, spreading from town to town, even infecting entire cities, a plague like no other, born of magic, and spreading across the populace like wildfire, infecting muggle, and magical alike, all of them dying in the night."
"No one knew what caused it, or even where it started. It was seemingly everywhere, yet nowhere. As the death toll climbed, Cadmus became aware of it, vowing to find a cure."
Harry furrowed his brows, wondering where this was leading. Cadmus was supposed to get the resurrection stone, but he couldn't see how that would have helped him cure an illness, neither could he see how the cloak, or even the wand could have helped.
"Cadmus had little to go on," Death continued. "Of those he examined, there was nothing connecting them. Age, race, ethnicity, the wealthy, and poor alike were all dying. He could not even discern the cause of their deaths, only that it happened most often in places with a large population, nor could he understand why some were spared, while others died, often times within the same household."
"That was when things took a terrible turn," Death said with a sigh. "Cadmus had been careful to keep his wife and child far away from the big cities, hoping that it would keep them safe, but it was not to be."
"Both of them died in the night, along with everyone else in the small village they were staying in. Cadmus was devastated, but even through his grief, he realized this plague was anything but natural. Magic simply didn't work that way, and there had to be a person who created, or controlled it."
"He spent months searching, trying to find the origin of the plague, knowing it would lead him to the ones that created it, but it was difficult. Unlike normal plagues magic was a component, making it far more difficult to discern its true origin."
"That is when I met him. He told me he'd reached a dead end. He wasn't sure he could even stop the plague. It had already spread so far. He told me he needed to find the lair of whatever creature created the plague, go through their notes and research, discover how they created it, how it spread, and how seemingly healthy people died in the night."
"Couldn't you have just told him who it was and where to find them?" Harry asked, confused.
"Again, Harry, I'm not omniscient," Death replied wryly. "I'm not privy to every event in the universe as it happens."
"But when they died, you would have known," Harry pointed out.
"Good, you're thinking," Death praised. "But that implies they crossed over when they died," Death replied.
"What? You mean they became ghosts? All of them?" Harry asked incredulously. He had never heard of so many people becoming ghosts, especially on a scale like that. "Why didn't Cadmus just talk to the ghosts, then?"
"Not ghosts Harry," Death replied solemnly. "They suffered a fate for worse than that, one they continue to suffer to this day."
"What?" Harry asked, not believing what he heard. "Did Cadmus fail? Is that how he died? How did the plague just suddenly stop?"
"Cadmus was ultimately right," Death continued. "What was happening wasn't natural. It was the furthest thing from natural," she added, the disgust clear in her tone. "The wizards and witches that did this never intended to create a plague, but magic is sometimes unpredictable."
"If not a plague, then what?" Harry questioned.
"They wanted to live forever," Death revealed. "And they thought they discovered a way to do just that, but cheating me is not without consequence, as they soon learned."
"They created a ritual to stop the aging process, and it worked. They are alive even now, in your time, but transformed into monstrous shadowy creations that suck the souls out of anyone they touch."
"Dementors," Harry said, his eyes widening as realization hit. "You're talking about Dementors," he said, remembering what Merlin told him.
"Yes," Death nodded her head. "That ritual changed them into Dementors, but there were others too, far enough away from the ritual to not be transformed. They became their first victims."
"The Dementors were ravenous, especially after the transformation, devouring the souls of all the witches and wizards in the castle, but it was not enough, never enough. They left the castle in search of more victims to sate their unending thirst, spreading out in all directions."
"What about Cadmus? He obviously stopped them. How did he find them?" Harry asked.
"It took time," Death explained. "But Cadmus, ever the clever one, studied how the stone functioned. Even though the ones who died did not cross over, allowing him to speak with them, he could tell with the aide of the stone when they died. Eventually, he traced their paths back to where it all started, Azkaban castle."
"The castle had long been abandoned at this point, which was fortunate," Death continued. "It was long before charms were invented to repel them, and should Cadmus have met one of them, you would not be standing here."
Harry felt a shiver go down his spine as he thought about the implications. Everyone the Dementors kissed, their souls still resided within them, and according to Death there was a balance between life and death.
"Did it tilt the balance?" he asked, wondering how much damage the Dementors existence caused.
Death nodded. "It was not the first time such a thing occurred," she explained. "The universe is vast, resilient, and teaming with life, but they represent a blot, a slowly growing corruption that can not be allowed to continue."
"Can they be destroyed?" Harry asked. "Every account says their bodies are made of darkness and shadows. Even after all this time, no one has even close to destroying them."
"Everything can be destroyed Harry," Death replied. "All that is required is the will, and the tools to do so."
"My dagger," Harry realized. "Merlin used it to kill Thulsa. But didn't Cadmus have it as well?"
"No," Death shook her head. "Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus came long before Merlin's time."
Harry looked at Death astounded, wondering just how far back his incarnations actually went.
"A very long time," Death replied, answering Harry's unspoken question.
"Did you meet my first incarnation?" Harry asked.
"In a manner of speaking," Death replied mysteriously. "But that is not why you are here Harry."
"Wait!" Harry pleaded. "Just one question, please."
"You may ask," Death replied indulgently. "But I can't promise I'll answer."
Harry nodded, thinking carefully. He knew Death would refuse to answer any direct questions about his existence, but he couldn't let an importunity like this slip threw his fingers. There had to be something he could ask that would at least point him in the right direction.
"Merlin told me me that my wand is what all modern wands are based upon," Harry said. "Are the people that created it, the same people that made me?"
Death stared at Harry, her eyes softening, seeing the turmoil within him, the same turmoil all his past incarnations struggled with. "No Harry, I'm sorry. You won't find the answers you're looking for in your past."
Harry nodded, his shoulders slumping. He had really thought that would be the case, but it was just another dead end. "What did Cadmus do next?" He asked.
"He did the only thing he could," Death replied. "Cadmus studied the ritual they performed, and as you surmised, there was no way for him to undo it, but he could alter it."
"He made it so the Dementors would be drawn to negative emotions. Anger, hatred, jealousy, and malice chief amongst them, then bound them to Azkaban forcing their return."
"Then what happened?" Harry asked, hanging on Death's every word.
"He died," Death replied quietly.
Harry nodded in understanding. Just like Morgan's ritual to open the portal, a sacrifice was required, and with no one else to shoulder the burden, it fell on Cadmus.
"How did they even create a ritual like that?" Harry asked with a shiver, wondering how anyone could come up with something so vile.
"The Darkhold," Death replied. "There were many before Thulsa that found, and read from its pages."
"The Darkhold," Harry repeated. In retrospect it surprised him that he didn't connect the dots sooner. So much evil had come from within its pages. Vampires, the Werewolf curse, and now Dementors. It all fit.
"Is there anyway to get rid of it, for good?" Harry asked.
"It must be returned to where it came from," Death replied. "That is the only way to stop its corrupting influence."
Harry nodded, adding one more task to his ever growing list of things to accomplish. At least for the time being he could lock it in Merlin's vault until he could figure out what to do with it.
"Do any of my incarnations ever get happy endings?" Harry asked sadly, thinking about Cadmus, and how he had lost his family, never able to see them again, not even in death.
Death smiled sadly at Harry, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Not often," she admitted. "But he made a difference. All your incarnations did, and the world is better for it."
Harry nodded, considering Death's words, feeling that heavy burden on his shoulders even now. He had been ready to sacrifice his life to stop Morgan, and it seemed like it was only through a lucky fluke that he was still alive.
"The three brothers," Harry said, knowing there had to be a reason why Death wanted to talk to him about the story. "There's a reason you're telling me about them, isn't there?"
"Yes Harry," Death agreed. "It is time for the fourth hollow to be born."
"The fourth hollow?" Harry asked, getting worried. "I don't understand. I've already stopped Morgan, haven't I?"
"You did," Death agreed. "I was impressed. Aside from Merlin, I can't think of any one of your previous incarnations that could have managed the same feat."
"The Dementors," Harry realized. "That's what this is about. You want me to put an end to them."
Death nodded.
After speaking with Death, hearing the stories of his previous incarnations, he knew he couldn't ask for what he really wanted, to bring back everyone that died in the battle.
"No Harry," Death replied, seemingly hearing his thoughts. "Returning life to the dead is beyond my power."
"So, how does it work?" Harry questioned. "I just ask you for something, and you give me an item that can do it? I don't even know what to ask for," he admitted.
"This is your gift Harry," Death replied, holding out an old brass key.
"What does it do?" Harry asked, looking at it carefully, but he couldn't see any distinguishing features on it.
"There are those that linger after death, sometimes through their own choices, and sometimes by the choices of others. This will give them another opportunity to choose. You will understand its purpose soon," Death replied mysteriously.
"You really can't give me any more than that?" Harry asked.
"There are rules even I must follow," Death repeated. "My gifts strain the limits of those rules."
"Then why do it at all?" Harry asked. "Why help me? Why help any of my past incarnations?"
Death smiled sadly, wishing she could answer, but knowing she couldn't.
"What's it like?" Harry asked, his eyes softening, envious that he would never see it for himself. "The other side. Are the people that go there happy? Are they reunited with the people they love?"
"I wish I could tell you," Death replied regretfully. "But it is a place I too am forbidden from entering."
"Why?" Harry asked, confused. He had never met a being as powerful as Death, and had trouble conceiving of anyone that could keep her from what she wanted.
"The other side is not simply another world, like the place Morgan is trapped in. It's another plain of existence entirely, from which there is no return," Death explained. "And without my presence here, life and death would cease. It would cause a state of entropy, that would in turn cause the decay and destruction of the universe."
"…Will I ever see you again?" Harry asked, realizing his meeting with Death was coming to an end.
"One day," Death replied mysteriously.
Harry nodded, knowing that was all he was going to get from her.
"Goodbye Harry," Death said, surprising him as she pulled him into a tight hug. "I'll miss you," she whispered, "but it's time for you to go now, live."
Before Harry could ask, a door appeared in the nothingness that was the in-between. It was heavy, made of thick logs, and bound together by slabs of metal.
Instinctively, he knew it would return him to his mind, and after he stepped through, he wouldn't be able to return to this place again.
"Goodbye, Lady Death, and thank you," Harry said, turning to look at her one last time before he stepped through the door.
***
Hi! Thanks for reading :) I hope the chapter didn't come off as too much of an exposition dump, but there was a lot of stuff i wanted to cover on Harry's meeting with Lady Death, and I didn't want to spread it out over multiple chapters. Lady Death is an exceptionally powerful character and I want to use her sparingly in the story, so she will not make regular appearances.
What did you think about the revelation about the Deathly Hollows? Did it feel like a natural part of the story or shoe horned in?
Please take the time to review, let me know what's working, what's not. It helps a lot with figuring out what I need to adjust or change to improve the story.
If you would like to support me and my writing, please consider visiting https://taplink.cc/jumpin for all the stories I'm currently working on and early access to chapters 73, 74, 75, and 76 of Legacy of Merlin, along with some character portraits for Merlin, Morgan and Nimue, and an audio versions of the chapters.