Harry nodded slowly.
“Yeah. When you explain it like that, it actually makes sense.”
“Good.”
John flipped to another page in the folder.
“Seventh task.”
Harry straightened in his chair.
“Track down and destroy every Horcrux except two.”
“The ring and the snake,” Harry immediately guessed.
John pointed at him.
“Exactly.”
Harry frowned.
“Why leave those?”
“The ring is Albus Wulfric’s responsibility.”
John’s tone made it clear the matter was not open for debate.
“As for Nagini, she remains until the end.”
Harry leaned back.
“So Neville kills her?”
“Possibly.”
John shrugged.
“Or you do it yourself after Riddle’s resurrection.”
Harry nodded.
“What about the Cup?”
“Inform the goblins.”
John tapped the desk.
“Tell them Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup is hidden inside Bellatrix Druella’s vault.”
Another tap.
“And tell them it’s a Horcrux.”
Harry blinked.
“They’ll just deal with it?”
John smirked.
“You’d be amazed how motivated goblins become when Dark Lords hide soul fragments inside their bank.”
Fair enough.
“The locket and the diadem should be destroyed as soon as possible.”
John fixed him with a look.
“And before the resurrection.”
Harry groaned.
“Why can’t we just destroy all of them beforehand?”
John raised an eyebrow.
“We?”
Harry shrugged.
“Me. Hermione. Daphne.”
The grim reaper sighed.
“Don’t whine, Harry James.”
Harry rolled his eyes.
John ignored him.
“The prophecy requires that one of you die by the other’s hand.”
Harry frowned.
“But if all the Horcruxes are gone—”
“Then Tom Marvolo’s anchors are gone.”
John nodded.
“But the prophecy remains.”
Harry slumped.
“So he still has to come back.”
“Yes.”
“He still has to be alive.”
“Yes.”
“And one of us still has to kill the other.”
“Exactly.”
John folded his arms.
“To die, he must first live.”
Harry muttered something uncomplimentary under his breath.
John pretended not to hear it.
After a moment he closed the folder.
“Those are your first seven major tasks.”
Harry blinked.
“First seven?”
John smiled.
“Oh, there will be more.”
Harry groaned.
“I thought you might say that.”
“Naturally.”
The smile widened.
“My counterparts and I will continue monitoring your progress.”
“My counterparts?”
“Hermione Jean’s Grim Reaper.”
A finger.
“Daphne Anna’s Grim Reaper.”
Another finger.
“And myself.”
Harry stared.
“You’re all going to be checking on us?”
“As Guardian Angels, yes.”
John nodded.
“We’ll visit whenever necessary.”
Harry wasn’t sure whether that was comforting or terrifying.
John leaned forward.
“I am not allowing another UDE.”
His voice suddenly carried absolute authority.
“Not one.”
Harry blinked.
John jabbed a finger at the desk.
“I refuse to lose my position because you have an unhealthy habit of dying.”
Harry nearly laughed.
“I’m serious.”
“I can see that.”
“I will not spend eternity singing bass in the Heavenly Choir because you can’t stay alive.”
The grim reaper shuddered dramatically.
“I’m practically tone deaf, for Peter’s sake.”
Harry laughed despite himself.
John looked satisfied.
Then he reached into the folder and pulled out a thick stack of documents.
The pile landed on the desk with an alarming thud.
Harry stared.
“What is all that?”
“Paperwork.”
John said it as though the answer were obvious.
Harry looked horrified.
“That’s a lot of paperwork.”
“This is the afterlife.”
John shrugged.
“Did you think we’d escaped bureaucracy?”
A fountain pen appeared on the desk.
“You need to sign every highlighted section.”
Harry picked up the stack.
There were far more pages than seemed reasonable.
He flipped through them.
John settled comfortably into his chair.
“The first document is the contract we discussed.”
Harry turned a page.
“The second?”
“Your acknowledgment that this is your sixth and final Unauthorized Death Event.”
Another page.
“The third confirms that you’ll be returning with your memories intact.”
Another.
“The fourth grants permission for us to secure future knowledge behind your Occlumency barriers.”
Another.
“The fifth contains the upgraded Occlumency package.”
Harry blinked.
“There’s a package?”
“Includes maintenance instructions.”
John nodded.
“And future upgrades.”
Harry continued flipping.
“The sixth and seventh?”
“Soul Bond applications.”
John smiled.
“One for Hermione Jean.”
Another smile.
“One for Daphne Anna.”
Harry nearly dropped the papers.
“The eighth?”
“Authorization for special backstep status.”
“And the last one?”
John’s smile became suspiciously innocent.
“The customer feedback form.”
Harry stared.
“The what?”
“The form confirming I’ve performed my duties professionally and to your satisfaction.”
Silence.
Harry looked at him.
John looked back.
Neither moved.
Finally Harry sighed.
“Of course there is.”
“Excellent attitude.”
Harry began signing.
Page after page.
Initial here.
Sign there.
Date that section.
A few minutes later he finally dropped the pen onto the desk.
“There.”
John collected the stack and carefully reviewed every page.
After several moments he nodded.
“Everything appears to be in order.”
The documents vanished back into the folder.
“What happens now?” Harry asked.
John stood.
“Now we prepare you for departure.”
The folder disappeared beneath his arm.
“Come with me.”
Harry rose and followed.
The next several hours felt surreal.
One room installed and calibrated his new Occlumency barriers.
Another transferred the knowledge required to maintain and modify them.
A third room dealt with soul relationships.
Harry wasn’t entirely sure what had happened there.
Only that he felt…
different afterward.
More complete somehow.
The next stop was the Memories Room.
There, memories he never knew he possessed came flooding back.
The staircase.
The chessboard.
The basilisk.
The graveyard.
Every previous death.
Every previous reset.
Every previous meeting with John.
The sheer volume nearly overwhelmed him.
Specialists helped organize everything.
The memories from September First, 1994 onward were carefully sealed behind his new mental barriers.
Future knowledge remained accessible to him but unreachable to anyone else.
Even he would need to deliberately access it.
When the process was complete, another revelation followed.
“Memory charms no longer work on you.”
Harry blinked.
“They don’t?”
A technician shook his head.
“Master Occlumens.”
Harry wasn’t entirely sure how he’d become one.
At this point he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
From there he was escorted into the Room of Fates.
The chamber was enormous.
One wall consisted entirely of crystal windows.
Beyond them stretched an impossibly vast tapestry.
Harry stood frozen.
Threads of every imaginable color crossed and intertwined endlessly.
At the center worked three women.
Clotho.
Lachesis.
Atropos.
The Fates.
They moved with calm precision, weaving destinies together as though handling ordinary thread.
Harry could only stare.
“It’s beautiful,” he whispered.
John smiled.
“Most people say that.”
Another window revealed something else.
A giant hourglass.
The upper chamber remained nearly full.
The lower held far less sand.
“That’s yours.”
Harry followed John’s finger.
“My hourglass?”
John nodded.
“Each grain represents a day of your life.”
Harry stared.
There were millions of them.
“Nearly four years’ worth will be returned to the upper chamber.”
Harry watched silently.
John smirked.
“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of your life.”
Nothing.
John waited.
Still nothing.
The grim reaper sighed dramatically.
“You have absolutely no appreciation for classic references.”
Harry shrugged.
“No idea what you’re talking about.”
John looked genuinely disappointed.
Eventually he pointed toward the tapestry.
“The Fates are repairing your thread.”
Harry looked back toward the weaving.
He noticed several strands being carefully reattached.
“Daphne and Hermione?”
“Among others.”
John nodded.
Harry frowned.
“Others?”
John smiled.
“The people you’re about to save.”
Harry’s heart skipped.
“Who?”
“That would be telling.”
Harry groaned.
John ignored him.
“The only one I’m authorized to mention is Sirius Orion.”
Harry immediately focused.
“Sirius.”
John nodded.
“One of your tasks is ensuring he survives.”
Harry smiled.
“I can do that.”
“Part of that process involves finding the lawyer.”
Harry nodded.
That made sense.
Finally they arrived at the last destination.
A circular room filled with strange machinery.
At the center stood what looked suspiciously like a giant glass test tube.
Roughly seven feet tall.
Wires extended from the top into the ceiling.
A door stood open on one side.
Harry stared.
Then stared some more.
“That’s it?”
John nodded.
“That’s it.”
Harry pointed at the tube.
“I’m going back in that?”
“Yes.”
Harry looked unconvinced.
“I thought Hermione and Daphne were coming with me.”
John closed his eyes.
“Harry James.”
Uh oh.
“You only need to arrive at roughly the same point in history.”
Harry blinked.
“Oh.”
John folded his arms.
“You do not need to physically travel together.”
Harry felt slightly foolish.
“Right.”
A pause.
“Time travel.”
“Exactly.”
John sighed.
“Hermione and Daphne haven’t departed yet.”
Harry looked surprised.
“They haven’t?”
“No.”
John smiled.
“But you’ll arrive after both of them.”
That actually made him feel better.
Harry stepped toward the tube.
The glass door slid open.
John gestured inside.
“After you.”
Taking a deep breath, Harry climbed in.
The interior was surprisingly comfortable.
John remained outside holding the door.
“Remember.”
Harry nodded.
“Seven tasks.”
Another nod.
“I’ll continue visiting.”
Harry smiled faintly.
“Guardian Angel duty.”
“Precisely.”
John grinned.
“And if the plan changes, you’ll be informed.”
Harry suddenly felt nervous.
This was real.
He was actually going back.
Back before the Tournament.
Back before the war.
Back before everything.
“Thank you.”
The words came quietly.
John’s expression softened.
“Try not to die.”
Harry laughed.
“I’ll do my best.”
The glass door slid shut.
Immediately the chamber became silent.
Completely silent.
The soundproofing was perfect.
Harry could only watch as several robed figures moved around a control panel.
Lights flashed.
Runes glowed.
Energy crackled through the wires.
Then John looked directly at him.
The grim reaper grinned.
And waved.
Harry waved back.
A second later the floor vanished beneath him.
His stomach dropped.
Literally.
As he plunged into empty space, panic exploded through his mind.
“Oh, shiiiiiiiii—”