I don't own Harry Potter, I don't even own the challenge- it's Reptilia28's idea, but I do own Mina, Jim and Bob
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Harry stood up and searched for anything he could do to help Mina get away from the imposing man that held the knife to her throat.
"Now, don't move a muscle." The man said, his voice hoarse, as if he had not used it in awhile. He was tall, though he might have only looked like that because he completely towered over the petite Mina. He had a wide, vicious grin and looked like he wouldn't spare a second thought about cutting Mina's neck. There was something in his dark eyes that made Harry feel as if the man might even enjoy it. Like both Fate and Mina, the man wore black robes but his were tattered stained with what looked suspiciously like blood. His sleeves had been completely torn away, revealing thickly muscled arms covered in tattoos of strange symbols that Harry had never seen before. Around his wrists were silver bracelets engraved with similar runes.
"Harry," the man called and Harry tensed, "You have a decision to make. You can either go back to your life now or restart from any point in time. But" he pressed the knife against Mina's neck ever so slightly, "if you do that then I will kill her." Again he pressed the knife harder to Mina's neck and a thin line of blood appeared, "On the other hand, agree to leave Sirius as he is and I'll release the girl." He moved the knife again so it was no longer pressing into Mina's neck and Harry's mouth fell open in shock,
"What?" he said before he could think and the man chuckled darkly,
"Your choice Potter, the girl's life or a chance to save Sirius and Dumbledore." Mina whimpered as he again moved the knife, preparing to slit her throat and she looked at Harry with large, fear filled eyes. Harry gritted his teeth,
"Why are you doing this?" he demanded and the man let out a bark of laughter,
"Because I can, now choose." The trickle of blood running down Mina's throat grew slightly thicker.
"Let Mina go." Harry snarled, furious that this man could even suggest such a thing, furious at himself for nearly listening to him. The man smirked and released Mina who then handed the papers she held to Fate before she turned back to the man and punched him in the face.
"You jerk!" she growled as the man laughed at her for a moment before he winced and held one large hand against his jaw.
"Wait a minute, what's going on?" Harry demanded, wondering why the man suddenly seemed far less threatening. The man looked at Harry and smiled, a real smile, not the bloodthirsty grin he had been sporting earlier.
"Harry Potter, I am Mina's mentor and the senior reaper of the Western hemisphere. You can call me Jim." Harry looked at him curiously, still tensed in case he tried anything.
"You're the one that watched over Godric Gryffindor?" Harry asked as he remembered something that Mina had mentioned earlier. The man grimaced and nodded,
"And I have never been happier than the day that Godric became a permanent resident of heaven. The idiot gave me five marks before he finally got it right and convinced his friends to help him start a school of magic."
"So why were you trying to kill Mina?" Harry demanded and Mina began to laugh. Harry glared at her and Fate answered as she tried to control herself.
"Harry, Mina is an incarnation of death. She can't be killed. At most, she would have had a scar for the next century or so."
"Then why go through that?" the young wizard persisted and while Mina still lay on the floor, laughing her lung out, Jim answered.
"Because it's my decision whether or not you can go through with this. If you didn't catch it the first time, I'm DEATH!" His voice became large and Harry could feel it rattling his bones and watched in awe as, for a split second, Jim became surrounded by fire and his flesh melted away, leaving only a skeleton with a terrifying grin. Then the second was over and Jim was back to his usual fairly intimidating self. "Plus it helps that my brother is father time and he agreed to help out."
"But you didn't answer my question." Harry pointed out once he could find his voice and Jim smirked,
"If you had chosen to go back and leave Mina to die, then you would have gone back. But it would have been to about a half hour before your death and you probably gotten yourself and your friends killed, the wizarding world enslaved and Mina fired."
"But instead of saving someone you loved you chose to save someone who is a stranger, at least in your point of view. Therefore, you're worthy of this." Mina broke in as she finally managed to get off the floor and speak normally.
"Worthy of what?" Harry exclaimed, feeling very tired by all these turn of events. Fate held out the papers.
"Just sign this contract and you can chose to go to any point in your life with full memories of your previous attempt." Harry looked at the contract and began to read it over carefully. After the first paragraph he wished that Hermione was there to make some sense of the legal jargon. As he flipped through the pages, the confusion on his face became more apparent until finally Mina took pity on him.
"Harry, it just boils down to you being allowed to keep your memories as a reward for your selfless behavior, or at least that's the official reason, and you will be able to choose what time you return as long as you swear an oath that you'll give Jim the complete soul of one Tom Marvolo Riddle Junior. In fact," Mina stood up and went over to the bookshelf, searching through it until she chose one of the many knickknacks scattered among the books. It was a pair of small boxes, each one no larger than the palm of Mina's hand which had begun to glow with a subtle golden light. One was made of something dark and covered with an intricate design while the other had gold vines wrapped around it. She gave the dark one to him and he took it without thinking. He didn't notice that the glow that had encased Mina's had had spread to the box and that the glow from the box began to travel up his arm the moment he touched it. He also didn't notice the look on Jim's face.
"Just put any horcrux you find in this and it will appear in this box and Jim can take care of it." Harry looked doubtfully at the small box which had stopped glowing and Fate laughed at him.
"She may not look like it kid, but she is a demi-goddess and she has some form of intelligence." Mina stuck her tongue out at him but Fate continued unperturbed, "Don't you think that perhaps the box is more than it seems?" he rolled his eyes, "Gryffindors, they always take things for granted. Give me a Ravenclaw any day."
"If we could get back to business?" grumbled Jim who looked pointedly at the contract. Harry took a deep breath and signed the papers which Jim promptly snapped back with a vicious grin.
"Excellent, now just follow me and you can be on your way Harry." Harry nodded and followed the imposing man through the elaborate doors into a long white hallway. At intervals along the pristine walls were gold plaques, each with a different name on them, some in languages that Harry didn't recognize.
"Those are the ones who distinguish themselves." Harry jumped and turned to Mina who had a far off look in her eyes that reminded him of Luna.
"What?" Harry whispered. Something about the hallway made him want to be quiet. Mina smiled sadly,
"Those are the champions, the angels, the saints, spirits and all others who distinguish themselves. They are the ones who set the example who are so courageous, wise, devoted or just kind that even immortals look up to them. Your mother is there." Mina whispered and Jim shot a glare as Harry paused in shock.
"My mother's there?" he repeated and Mina nodded. He looked at the plaques more carefully now but he did not spot her name.
After a silent ten minutes of walking, they stood before a tall hourglass. Harry stared at it, not really seeing it as the snowy sand fell into the still very small pile in the bottom half of the hourglass. There was still the matter of his mother, his mother who was counted among the greatest of heroes.
"Harry," Mina called softly and he turned to her. She smiled at him and put her hands on his temples and gently kissed him on his forehead and his scar glowed a gentle white for a moment before it returned to normal. She smiled,
"Your mother would be proud of what you've accomplished Harry but she'll be more proud if you don't mess this up." The young grim reaper then quickly stood back and Jim cleared his throat before he began to speak,
"This is your last shot Potter. Don't mess it up and put those gifts Mina gave you to good use because she'll be paying for them if you don't." Harry frowned in confusion as he looked back and forth between a now sheepish Mina and a stern Jim. Before he could say anything, a man who looked very much like Dumbledore came into the room, a smile on his face.
"Jimmy, it's so good to see you again. How is young Mr. Potter doing?" he asked in a cheerful voice.
"He hasn't left yet." Jim motioned to Harry and the old man blinked for a moment before he scowled and pushed back the sleeve of his own black robe in order to look at his watch which looked like a small sundial.
"Blast, I came in early, or did I come in late?" The old man looked pensive and Jim sighed.
"Harry, this is my brother, Time but just call him Bob. Bob, say good bye to Harry." Time blinked and waved absently before he wandered away, muttering under his breath. He stopped just before he was out of ear shot.
"Ah yes, now I remember what I was supposed to do." Bob cried triumphantly and he looked at Harry with intense blue eyes.
"You, Mr. Potter, have caused a good deal of trouble to most of us. Mina has already given you three gifts, use them well and remember, select your battles carefully. Ultimately, victory and defeat are a matter of your own careful- or reckless-choices. A tool wielded in ignorance can become the most dangerous of weapons. And finally, it is a horrible mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment." With those words said, Bob left, humming a little tune under his breath.
"Is he always like that?" Harry asked, feeling as if he missed something very important.
"Yes," Jim nodded, breaking Harry out of his thoughts. Jim motioned to the hourglass, "Touch the glass and Mina and I will take care of the rest."
"But wait a minute, what gifts are you talking about? You can't just mean the box." Harry protested and then noticed that his hand had begun to reach for the glass as if it had a mind of its own. He tried to wrench it away but he couldn't control it.
"Don't worry about those Harry, you'll find out soon enough. Just keep in mind what Bob told you and do your best." Jim said encouragingly and then he seemed to get an idea and he smiled widely. From a nearly invisible pocket in his tattered robes he pulled out a silver bracelet much like his own. He grabbed Harry's outstretched hand and snapped the bracelet around his forearm before Harry could say anything.
"What" Harry began but before he could ask anything, his hand had touched the glass. There was a white flash of light and then everything went dark.
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