Death
Friday, 11 September 1998
Andromeda quickly agreed to have Teddy for the weekend and made sure that Harry knew he was welcome to come back to Grimmauld as well. Harry let her know he might just take her up on that after he knew more about what the plans for training were.
Teddy was just starting to wake up from his nap so Harry went into his room to speak to Mimi and give Teddy a kiss goodbye before continuing his conversation with Death.
Picking up the still sleep warm baby, Harry held him close to his chest and buried his nose in Teddy’s hair. After a couple minutes of baby cuddles, Harry said, “alright, cub, you’re going to go with Mimi and visit grandma and Aunt Cissa. I’ll probably be there tomorrow or Sunday and then you’ll come back home with me, alright? I love you sweet boy.”
After another minute long hug, Harry handed the baby over to the elf and asked if she’d please take him to Grimmauld and spend the weekend there. Mimi happily agreed and with a light *pop* the pair were gone.
Harry sighed and made his way back to his office for what was sure to be a depressing conversation.
“So,” Harry said, stepping back into the study, “inferi?”
“Yes,” Death confirmed, “what do you know of them.”
“Honestly,” Harry said, pausing to think for a moment, “not much. I know that they are corpses that have been reanimated. You have to actually cast the curse on the body to create an inferi, they can’t just be spontaneously created. I know they have above average strength and speed. I don’t know much else.”
“You’ve got the basics,” Death said, “the only major thing you’re missing is the fact that the spirits of those who have been killed to create inferi are trapped on this plane in the same way ghosts are.”
“You mean,” Harry whispered, feeling totally off-balance, “the army of inferi that Tom created to guard the locket, all of those people are trapped?”
“That is exactly what I mean.”
“What about the ones that were destroyed when Dumbledore cast that fire spell?”
“They weren’t actually destroyed, only pushed back. Every one of those souls is still trapped.”
“What about Regulus?” Harry asked, voice barely above a whisper.
“He is trapped too.”
“But he’s not an inferi,” Harry argued, “or, at least, I didn’t think he was.”
“You’re correct, Hadrian, your father is not an inferi, but he wasn’t properly buried. As such, his soul hasn’t been able to cross over. He is not in anguish, he’s not trapped like a ghost, but his soul rests in Limbo waiting to be carried on. Take comfort in the fact that no one understands how time passes in Limbo, it is likely that he doesn’t know how long he’s been trapped there. Though James and Lily know how long he’s been stuck. They, along with your uncle, wait for him on the other side.”
“What do you mean by properly buried?” Harry asked, deciding to latch onto the one part of that statement that didn’t make him want to bash his head against a wall or scream into the abyss for several hours.
“Wizards, like all human societies, have certain burial rights that allow a soul to pass on. While James and Lily were buried in a Christian cemetery instead of on your father’s ancestral land, they were still given the proper rights.”
“Should they be buried at Potter Manor?” Harry asked.
“It’s up to you,” Death said, “you could leave them to rest where they are, or you could move them to Potter Manor and prepare a grave there for Regulus as well, or you could move all three of them to the Peverell lands if you’d like.”
“Wouldn’t Regulus be buried at Black manor?”
“Not necessarily,” Death explained, “technically, he married into the Potter family. His name remained Black because he was the Heir. Contrary to what most believed, when he died, the title passed to you, it didn’t revert to Sirius. Sirius was able to use the Black properties as a Son of the House, but he never could’ve claimed the Head. I digress,” Death said, shaking his head slightly, “what I mean to say is that even though Regulus remained a Black, the Potters are technically the higher ranked family due to their connection to the Peverell line. So, Regulus would be recognized as a Potter by Magic. As such, it would be proper to bury him on the Black or the Potter ancestral lands or, like I mentioned earlier, any of them could be buried on Peverell lands.”
Harry thought for a few minutes before deciding, “I think they should all be buried at Potter Manor. That’s where I’ll be living most often aside from Hogwarts or Grimmauld Place and that’s where my grandparents are buried. I think that’s what they would want.”
“Good choice,” Death said with a nod, “the process is rather easy. You can simply call the Head Potter Elf and ask that three sites be prepared in the family cemetery and that they move James and Lily from Godric’s Hollow to Potter Manor. It’s incredibly simple for them to do.”
“How do we get Regulus though? I mean, he’s been at the bottom of that lake for 20 years, I don’t really think there’s much left,” Harry said before cringing at the morbidity of that statement.
“Don’t fret, Hadrian,” Death said in a soothing voice, “the elves will prepare a casket, and I will show you the ritual to send Regulus to his rest. Also, that lake has an incredibly strong preservation charm on it so his body is in much the state it was 20 years ago. You won’t have to actually see him though, in fact, I don’t think you should. He, as you know, had a rather horrific death and I’d rather think he’d hate for you to see him like that.”
Harry quickly nodded his agreement.
They were both silent for a few minutes before Harry asked, “and can I send the inferi to their rest as well?”
“Yes. We will have to go to the cave, though.”
Harry took a deep breath and nodded, “when?”
“Tomorrow morning, after your dueling training. Call your elf now and take care of James and Lily. I will spend tonight teaching you the rituals we will use tomorrow.”
* * *
The hours had passed quickly. Death had taught Harry the rituals they’d need and had helped him prepare supplies. Turns out that necromancy involves a lot of blood. Thankfully, the Hogwarts elves were happy to bring a blood replenisher without asking any questions.
Word had been passed from the dragon to Salazar that Daphne, Pansy, and Seamus had decided to throw their party on Saturday night. So, once everything was ready for the trip to the cave, Harry decided to take a long bath and then go to bed. The problem was that it was incredibly hard to go to sleep when you were thinking about going to release the spirit of your father in a few hours.
Harry was looking forward to it on some level. Regulus absolutely deserved for his soul to leave Limbo and go to rest with his loved ones and for his body to be interred next to James and Lily. But he was also apprehensive, Death had explained that, in the past, when he’d helped other Peverells perform this ritual, they’d been greeted and thanked by the spirits they’d released. Harry wasn’t sure if he wanted to see Regulus or not, he wasn’t sure how he’d handle that.
So, instead of sleeping, he was lying in bed twisting the Black ring around his finger and thinking about how his father had never had the chance to wear this ring. He’d died wearing the Black Heir ring which now sat on Draco’s right pinky. Harry didn’t really have anything from Regulus. He’d worn his clothes, of course, before the girls had taken him on that godforsaken shopping spree, he still had some of Regulus’ robes in his wardrobe. But he didn’t have anything all that sentimental like he had of James’.
He had the map and the Cloak. Two things that had saved his life and helped him out more times than he could count.
What he had from Lily wasn’t entirely physical but was with him every day. He reached up and brushed his fingers across the scar, the tangible representation of a mother’s love.
Regulus had started the Horcrux hunt, so in some way he’d been with him through that, but Harry hadn’t known.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his door. Knowing it could only be Neville, he called out, “come in!”
Neville opened the door and, instead of saying hello or anything polite, threw himself down on the mattress next to Harry, turned toward him, and said “your anxiety is practically screaming, I could feel it through the wall, what is wrong?”
“Could we talk about something else? I’ll tell you everything some other day.”
“Sure,” Neville agreed quickly, knowing Harry would keep his word, “do you think it’s weird Remus married Sirius’ cousin?”
“That was so far out of left field,” Harry said, sputtering, “how did you even land on that?”
“I’ve been thinking about it since we had dinner with Mary and we’ve never really talked about it, I didn’t know any of them as well as you did so I was just wondering what your thoughts were.”
“Well,” Harry said after pausing to think for a minute, “I don’t think so. I mean, not necessarily. We know from the letters we found and from James’ journals that Remus and Sirius were together at Hogwarts and, as far as I can tell, together until Halloween ’81. I haven’t the slightest idea what Remus got up to during the 12 years Sirius was in Azkaban, but I spent a decent amount of time with them after he got out and I genuinely don’t think they ever got back together?”
“Really?”
“Really,” Harry said with a nod, “I could always tell there was something between them, Remus looked at Sirius with such longing and Sirius always calmed down around Remus, it was obvious there was something more than friendship happening. But Sirius’ mind was so fractured those couple years.
“He spent 12 years constantly surrounded by dementors and listening to Bellatrix scream bloody murder down the hall, then he broke out and spent a year living as a dog in the forest, then he left the country and went who knows where only to come back in live in a cave in Hogsmeade during the Tournament so he could be close to me.
“He only got to live in a house again that summer after 4th year and the house was basically another prison. He hated Grimmauld Place, and I can understand. That place was soaked in dark magic from whatever shit Walburga kept around plus the Horcrux. Also, he had very few good memories of that house. And many of the good memories he had were corrupted by the dementors. He often forgot where he was or even when he was. I mean, Nev, his last word was calling me James.
“There’s no shot he was stable enough to be in any sort of real relationship with Remus. Also, I noticed Remus and Tonks flirting that summer between 4th and 5th year, I don’t think they got together until after Sirius died, but I don’t think that Remus and Sirius were together when he died. So, I don’t know, maybe it’s odd that Remus married the cousin of the man he spent his whole youth loving or maybe it’s not but either way, we got Teddy so I really can’t complain.”
Neville was quiet for a few minutes, thinking that over, “I guess you’re right,” he finally said, “I think it’s probably super strange from Mary’s perspective though. She never knew Tonks as an adult, probably didn’t even know her as a kid, but would’ve known she existed because Sirius was super close with Andromeda … but you’re right on the Teddy front. I love that little guy.”
“Me too, Nev, me too.” Harry said, starting to drift off.
“Can I sleep here?” Neville asked quietly, “I was having trouble sleeping too. My thoughts are less loud around you.”
“Course, Nev,” Harry mumbled before turning over and burying his face in the pillow, “g’night.”
“Night, Haz. Love you.”
“Love you too.”