There are no lies in Death
Harry shifted under his mound of blankets, shooting a spell at the blaring alarm, causing it to spark and combust. He didn’t mind, it was already the fifteenth one he’s destroyed. He had at least another twenty stored away in the shed out back.
The sun, which had been shining heavily for the past week, finally hid itself behind dark clouds.
He dragged his covers with him, shuffling into his bathroom to brush his teeth, he wasn’t hungry. Every breath that he let out came as a white puff, chilling his already pale lips. His skin was paler than last month.
Sirius was going to be upset once he saw him.
He was upset the last time he saw you, but it's never because of you, my dear. Truly, I wish you had been slightly older before this fell upon your lap.
Just stop talking, stop speaking inside his mind.
Knock knock, Master.
Sure enough, his door shuddered as the sound of someone tapping on it filled the house.
“Just a minute.” Harry called out.
He clutched his blankets around his body, tilting his head as he opened the door to one of the tallest men he’d seen since he crossed the pond.
“Hi.”
“Hello.” Harry responded.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Can I help you?” He finally broke the tense silence that fell over them, causing the man to cringe. Harry looked at his wrist, glancing at the watch that Remus had given him. “…at seven in the morning?”
The man cleared his throat, brushing a hand over his short hair. “Right… Look, I’m really not the best at this, but my wife saw you shopping at the market the other day. Now she’s in a bit of huff since she didn’t know we had any new neighbors, and we haven’t introduced ourselves or anything. I’m Sam Uley, by the way.”
“I’m Harry.”
They both stood there for another moment before Sam sighed heavily, “Are your parents in?”
“No.” Harry paused, “They’re dead.”
It was Sam’s turn to pause, his mouth pressing in a thin line as he started to size Harry up. “…A guardian then?”
Harry thought about it for a moment, wondering if he should end the poor man’s misery and simply lie. “They’re at— in London.”
Sam looked just as surprised as Harry felt at that statement. He had meant to say they were at work.
Oh my, it’s finally starting. Apologies, my dear, this is truly one of the worst conversations for this to be happening with.
Fuck off.
“They’re… in London?”
“…Was there something that you needed?” Harry felt a headache brewing.
The man’s face twisted in an odd sort of way, a way that reminded him distinctly of Snape whenever he thought that Harry had done something. Suspicion. It was warranted, given how Harry kept cutting himself off and changing his words. Didn’t mean he liked it.
“Listen, kid.” He hated it already, the hesitant worry that filled Sam’s eyes, “I’m most certainly over-stepping in every way with this, but if you need anything, and I do mean anything, we’re just a straight shot that way.”
The man jerked his thumb into the forest, his face marred with a frown and his scrunched-up eyebrows.
“Oh, okay.” With that, Harry shut the door.
Well, that’s certainly rude of you.
He couldn’t lie. He had tried, but the words wouldn’t come out.
Death is the purest form of life, there is no changing anything about the dead. Once a mortal has reached its end, any choices thereafter reach their census as well. I reap and judge those choices, I see only the truth of every action and every thought, in return I can only speak of such. As my master, you too are cursed with the inability to lie, but blessed with the ability to act.
…Merlin. Just kill him now. He wouldn’t be able to tell a white lie, a small fib, even just an exaggeration. Harry was truly, and utterly, fucked.
Honestly, Master. It’s not like there isn’t plus sides to every negative, death is all about balance after all. Since you cannot lie, you can only see the truth. I’m not sure how it will manifest with you, but it appears that your powers surface with the so-called ‘shitty’ parts first.
He was never talking to anyone again.
Now you’re just being dramatic, you have school in twenty minutes, hurry up and get ready.
Oh.
Right.
School.
Shit.
“Harry! How is our adorable, emo, fluff-ball?” Jessica was dressed almost as warm as Harry was, bundled under a thick jacket and beanie, “Oh! Wait, I have exciting news!”
At least it couldn’t be as bad as learning that he couldn’t even tell a professor that a dog ate his homework as a joke. “Lay it on me, I just received the wor—… some horrible information, so I could use something good.”
The bubble girl paused, immediately snapping into worry mode. “Oh no, do you wanna talk about it? It can totally wait if you want to vent first, it’s nothing super important.”
Harry shook his head, ducking as Mike came up and tried to ruffle his hair. “No, go ahead. I just want to not think about it. Also, my hair is already a mess Mike, don’t make it worse.”
“My man, how you doing? We missed you for lunch yesterday, Cora said we had to bring you next weekend, no objections. Ty also said he wants to play some football with you after school, he swears that he won’t laugh if you fall this time.”
“Forget about that, you need to listen to this as well Mike!” Jessica pushed the blonde teen away, linking her arms with the two of them as they started toward class, “The Cullens are back from their camping trip!”
“Seriously? I thought they moved after not showing up for the whole week. Do they just not show up whenever its freaking sunny?” Mike groaned.
“The Cullens?” Harry frowned, trying to remember if he had seen or talked to anyone with that name, “Who’re they?”
Jess laughed, waving her hands, which were still trapped under their arms, at Angela once she joined. “You had only just joined last week, so you totally missed them. They all started at the beginning of last year, a whole group of five kids! I heard from my mom, who heard from Aunt Shelly, who works at the hospital with Dr. Cullen, the dad, that him and his wife adopted all of them.”
“Not only that, Harry.” Mike grinned, tugging them along to his locker, “But some of them are like, together-together. Y’know?”
Well, it's not that strange. Back when I visited and met your ancestors, your many times great-grandfather was engaged to his cousin. Though, that was before humanity started to learn about the effects of inbreeding, and the fact that many of the betrothed couples really weren’t all that into marrying their own family. I suppose you lot did catch some sense, now though. Strange creatures, you would think that the instinctual repulsion would cause them to second-guess before following along with men who really were just talking sheer stupidity and making it up on the go.
Gross. Harry really didn’t want to know about that. Like, really, absolutely, truly wanted no knowledge of that part of his family history. Or anyone’s family history for that matter.
This is important, Master. History is a valuable subject when it comes to the living, especially considering that many of you mortals like to repeat quite a lot of it.
“They’re all not actually related, though.” Angela spoke up, leaning against one of the few unused lockers, “I heard from Miles, the one that works at the market, that he heard from Mrs. Cullen that Jasper and Rosalie are actually fraternal twins, which is why they go by Hale. Though, Rosalie is dating Emmett, and Jasper is dating Alice.”
Wow, was this how the Hogwarts rumor mill ran?
…Yes, actually.
…Wow.
“I… see.” Harry nodded, trying to follow along with all the names being flung about, “So, question.”
Jessica shoved her gloves into her pocket, waving at him to ask.
“Why is this exciting new?”
Mike chuckled, fishing his books out of his bag while simultaneously trying to shove it into his locker, “Dude, they’re all hot and their parents are rich. Dr. Cullen was seen driving one of those new, fancy cars, and Mrs. Cullen is always donating a bunch of food and stuff almost every week.”
“…And?”
Angela looked up from her camera, “…Harry. Do your parents pay mortgage on their house?”
What parents?
He raised his eyebrow, not seeing where this was going. “No, my parents left me a bunch of properties and stuff, I didn’t see anything about a… mortgage?”
What the bloody hell was a mortgage?
“Dude,” Mike stopped what he was doing, “Your parents left you houses?”
Jessica punched him in the shoulder, glaring at the taller boy, “Tact, Mike. Jesus Christ.”
The group went quiet after that, avoiding eye-contact before Mike spoke up again.
“So, Harry is just proof that the Cullens are weird, at least he actually socializes with us common people.”
“What the fuck, Mike?”