Disclaimer: All portions of the HP universe/worlds/characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Hunter x Hunter universe/worlds/characters are the property of Yoshihiro Togashi and Shueisha Inc. (publisher). This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye – as if that wasn't already obvious since I swapped a few genders), angst, drama, some mild character bashing, and who knows what else.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter Forty-Eight: The x Deathly x Hallows

"There is one thing about your fight with Voldemort that still confuses me, Miss Potter," Chairman Netero stated as he tugged on the gray tip of his beard. "Why was his Killing Curse rebounded when it struck you?"

Azalea froze and found it rather difficult to breathe as the Chairman's question abruptly reminded her that she now held all three Deathly Hallows and that she'd been wearing or using all three at the time of her fight with Voldemort. The memory of the frigid magic of death sliding over her skin each time she had all three items on her person had the blood draining from her face as she dropped her hands to her stomach as her thoughts immediately flew to the babies.

Could the death magic of the three ancient artifacts have harmed her babies?

Sure, all three healers had assured her that her babies were healthy but she well recalled what Madam Pomfrey had told her about dark magic affecting the growing babes back when she first confirmed Azalea's pregnancy. Azalea hadn't really given any thought to how the cold touch of death would have affected the babies each time the frozen tendrils of death's magic had wrapped itself around her. That wasn't even touching on what the Killing Curse might have done to the twins when Voldemort's curse struck her at the end of the battle.

"Azalea, what's wrong?" Kurapika asked in concern as he cupped the terrified witch's face with one hand in order to get her to look at him.

Tears welled up in Azalea's eyes in response to the question as her heart twisted in pain over the thought of how Kurapika would take the knowledge that she might have caused harm to their children in her ignorance. Azalea then closed her eyes in an attempt to prevent her tears from falling and started to shake her head only to freeze when her fiancé's hand felt as if it had been turned to stone against her face. Opening her eyes and jerking her face back, Azalea gasped in horror as her eyes landed on a petrified and colorless Kurapika; it literally looked like all of the life had been drained from him.

She opened her mouth to demand an answer from the others in the room, only for a scream to escape instead when she finally noticed that the other four men in the room had also been frozen. Even the room itself looked like it had had all the color sucked out of it as everything had faded into lifeless shades of gray. What truly terrified her though was the fact that Fawkes was in the same state; she had not thought it possible for anything to freeze the living magic of a phoenix without forcing the mythical bird into a rebirth cycle.

"Calm yourself, child; your companions are unharmed," a raspy voice filled with unimaginable power insidiously filled the room. "I merely froze the lives inside of this house in time so that my presence will not harm them."

Swallowing thickly, Azalea turned her head towards where she believed the voice was coming from in time to see the shadows in the far corner of the room coalesce into a cloak covered figure that loomed over Azalea even from across the room. Ice cold fear formed a knot inside of Azalea's stomach the moment she saw the black bladed scythe in the being's skeletal hand.

"Who… what are you?" Azalea demanded in a show of false bravado before the intimidating being.

"Come now, child; you already know who I am for your soul and mine are old friends."

"You are Death," Azalea replied in a breathless whisper that echoed far too loudly in her ears.

"In the flesh and at your service, my lady," Death rasped as he bowed to Azalea with a flourish that some how seemed both mocking and sincere all at the same time.

"Why are you here?"

"Your soul called me here the moment you began to fear yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"The moment you claimed all three pieces of the Deathly Hallows, you stepped outside of time itself as you became part of the very cycle that is life and death."

"I don't understand… what does that mean?"

"It means that your soul is no longer bound to the Cycle of Life and Death by your mortality."

"Are you implying that I can not die?"

"No, there is no such thing as immortality. Death, no matter what form it takes, is inevitable for all things; including myself for I am naught but one small aspect of the universe."

"Then what did you mean when you said I was no longer bound to the Cycle of Life and Death?" Azalea inquired in a bewildered tone as she tried to understand.

"While all things made of flesh, bone, and blood are doomed to crumble to dust, the soul is eternal. However, once the soul of a living creature flees from its home in death, the memories of the soul's life are wiped clean and that too is a form of death. That is what it means to be bound to the Cycle of Life and Death."

"If the memories of a soul are stripped from them upon death, then how is it that I can speak to the spirits of the dead through the Resurrection Stone? And what about ghosts? How is it possible for ghosts to exist?"

"The Stone does not truly bring the departed souls back to the world and ghosts are not actual souls that are trapped on this plane. When a living being dies, its last breath expels the memories of its lifetime and those memories become part of the magic that fills this world. It is those memories that the Stone latches onto and pulls back into the form of the spirit that you wish to speak with. As for the existence of ghosts, if the being's fear of death is strong enough, then their memories will bind themselves together for all eternity instead of scattering across the universe."

"The how was it possible for the memories of my parents, great grandfather, and godfather to be aware of things that happened after they died when I called them through the stone?"

"Those memories that become scattered upon the death of their host mingle with the memories of every living thing that has ever died bar those memories that were bound in the likeness of their former lives through fear. When you use the Stone to call upon the 'spirit' of one who has passed, the magic in the Stone will pass through your soul through the bond the Stone has formed with your magic before it gathers the scattered memories of the one you are calling and temporarily binds them into their original form."

"Your magic and memories will therefore leave an impression on the 'spirit' you have called; allowing the magic in the Stone to gift the 'spirit' with knowledge it did not have upon its death," Death explained as casually as one might comment on the weather.

"Does that mean that what I learn from the spirits of those I call on is false?"

"No, any knowledge gleaned from the memories of the dead are the unembellished truth for there can be no deceit in death. Nor can your magic deceive you for it is a part of what makes you, you."

"What about when I died last year? Why didn't Sirius know what was happening when he greeted in me the weird replica of the Death Room from the Department of Mysteries?"

"You had not called upon the memories of his soul through the Resurrection Stone at the time. In fact, you did not truly 'die' at that time because your soul had been bound to your body through Fate's prophecy and your experiences at the time were the product of your magic and your own memories of the man you called godfather."

"Okay," Azalea murmured as he tried to absorb everything she'd just learned. "Okay. I'm not sure I understand yet but I can figure it out later. In the mean time, can you finish explaining what it means for me to be unbound from the Cycle of Life and Death now? And while you're at it, maybe you could explain to me just what the Deathly Hallows are and why 'claiming' them did whatever it was they did."

"The moment the magic that lives in the Hallows bound themselves to your soul, they broke the bindings that bound your soul within the Cycle of Life and Death. What that means, is that the moment your body dies and your soul is set free, instead of your memories being scattered throughout the world's magic or bound into a ghost by fear, they will forever be tied to your soul. So, instead of starting over with a new life each time you die, your soul will carry with it the memories of all your lifetimes from this point forward."

"And the Hallows?"

"They are merely three aspects of the universe that were tied into physical form through magic. The Elder Wand represents Balance for it is a tool that can heal or harm. The Resurrection Stone represents Time for it is tied to the world's magic and therefore to the histories of all lives that have passed on and those that are yet to come. And the Invisibility Cloak represents Luck for it allows one to hide from both those who seek to harm the wearer and those the wearer seeks to harm. "

"Altogether, the Hallows are a physical manifestation of the Cycle of Life and Death. Their combined magic shields their wielder from the moment their magic forms a bond with the wielder's magic, or as some call it, their life force."

"Is that why I can feel the cold magic of death wrapping around me like a blanket each time I hold all three Hallows at the same time? Will that magic hurt my babies?"

"Foolish child; there is no such thing as death magic, just as there is no such thing as life magic. Magic is nothing more and nothing less than the energy that breaths life into all living things. And the magic in the Hallows could no more harm your unborn children than it could harm you because the magic in the Deathly Hallows is now tied to your magic and your magic will never harm that which is born from your loins."

"But then why is the magic of the Hallows so cold? And why are they called the Deathly Hallows if they have nothing to do with death?"

"The coldness you feel when you hold the Hallows near to you is merely your magic brushing up against the aspects of the universe that the Hallows are tied to. Your life, your soul, burns so brightly that it makes the wild magic that flows throughout the world feel cold by comparison. You also have no need to hold the Hallows to feel the connection you now have to the universe; though holding them makes it far easier for you to do so."

"As for the name 'Deathly Hallows', you would do well to remember that time twists history until fact becomes legend and legend becomes myth until that knowledge is lost before it is found again at which time myth once again becomes fact. It was a human that named the Hallows and even that name has become warped throughout time. As for why the Hallows are so closely associated with death, it is because of how closely tied they are to the Cycle of Life and Death on top of the fact that I had been the one charged to bring them into being during one of my earlier lives."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense. Or it might, once I've had time to think about it. Wait, you said 'one' of your earlier lives; does that mean that you remember all of your past lives?"

"Yes, for like you, I am part of the Cycle of Life and Death for I am Death."

"If you are Death, then what am I?"

"You are Life's Champion and Magic's Protector."

"What happens if someone takes one of the Hallows from me? If another win's the allegiance of the Elder Wand?"

"The magic of the Hallows does not work that way; the passing of each Hallow from one person to the next was merely the magic of the Hallows seeking the Champion that was destined to unite them; you. They will forever be tied to your soul even long after their physical forms have been passed onto another and they will inevitably return to your hand in each new life you live when you have the greatest need for them and their magic once more. As such, the Elder Wand would be nothing but another wand in the hand of another no matter how they ended up with the wand."

Azalea slumped back against couch and scrubbed at her face for a moment as she tried to remain calm in the face of the knowledge that she had been destined to master the Deathly Hallows since before she was born. Much like she'd been prophesied to defeat the Dark Lord. A dark laugh bubbled up in her chest as she wondered whether it was her destiny as the wielder of the Hallows that had caused her to be the subject of a prophecy or if it was being the subject of a prophecy that had marked her to be the wielder of the Hallows.

"Anything else I should know about the Hallows?"

"Yes, there are limits to what you are allowed to reveal about the nature of the Deathly Hallows. While the existence of the Hallows is well documented, the fact that they are aspects of the universe is not and as such, you may not reveal that knowledge to anyone. Nor are you allowed to speak of your new existence as part of the Cycle of Life and Death to those who are still bound by the Cycle. You may, however, reveal your ownership of all three Deathly Hallows and speak of my presence (for my existence is well documented) to those whom you trust."

"What about the part where the owner of the Hallows is supposed to become the Master of Death? Is there any truth in that or is that another part of the tale that became twisted by time?"

"I have no master and you hold no power over me."

"That's a good thing; I don't want that kind of power. I just wanted to know what to tell those that ask me about that aspect of the legend, because those I tell will ask the moment I open my mouth and assign the title of Deathly Hallows to the Wand, Stone, and Cloak. I also can't just tell them that the whole Master of Death thing is a myth if I can't explain the true purpose of the Deathly Hallows."

"You may tell them that mastering the Deathly Hallows allows you to be the master of your own death; granting you the ability to deflect harmful magic away from your person; which is true as the Hallows shield your soul from an untimely death. That is especially true so long as you carry the seeds of life within your womb for the protective instincts of a mother are intertwined with your magic and through your magic's connection to the Hallows with the magic of the Hallows."

"What do you mean?"

"It was your desperate need to protect the lives that you carry inside of you that gave the Hallows the power to deflect the curse that would have taken your life and your children's lives with you if the magic in the Death Curse had touched your magic," Death answered patiently. "Did you have any other questions for me, child?"

"Will you be popping up like this all the time now or was this just a one time deal?"

"You will only see me when you have need of me or when I have need of you in your capacity as Life's Champion and Magic's Protector."

"Joy," Azalea snorted sarcastically. "Do I need to worry about any other aspects of the universe or their avatars popping up unannounced?"

"Magic may seek you out when her existence is threatened but otherwise she will be content to let you live your life undisturbed because that is the nature of Magic. The Phoenix, the Avatar of Hope and Rebirth, may also choose to visit you since you are bound to one of his children but he is usually content to allow his children to act in his stead since they were scattered to the far corners of the universe not long after their birth."

Azalea let out a soft groan in response to that reply; she was not looking forward to dealing with three powerful and god-like beings. She then cast a side glance to her still frozen lover as she tried to predict how he was going to react to the latest twist in the drama that was her life. Her heart gave a painful lurch when she realized that they would be separated in death because Kurapika's soul would forever be wiped clean of its memories at the end of his lifetime while she would be both blessed and cursed to forever remember both having and losing him.

"If there is nothing else you need from me, child, then I will bid you farewell for the time being."

Azalea jerkily nodded in response to his words and the being known as Death faded back into the shadows from which he formed even as the world around her burst back into life and color. The young witch sucked in a sharp breath as she recognized the feeling from when Kurapika had drawn her out of the state of numbness she'd been locked in after her fight with Voldemort. She swallowed sharply when she realized that the numbness must have had something to do with the Hallows or with Death itself (himself?) based upon that similarity.

"Azalea…?" Kurapika murmured in concern and confusion as he allowed his hand to drop the moment he realized that Azalea was no longer within reach but couldn't recall her actually moving away from him. Azalea let out a small whimper before she buried her face against his chest; her entire body trembling as she struggled to deal with the shock she'd just been given. "Kitten…? What's wrong? And why are you half frozen all of a sudden?"

"Sorry, I just learned something rather unsettling," Azalea murmured in reply before she took several deep breaths to calm her swirling emotions and bring order to her scattered thoughts. Once she was in control of herself once more, she sat up addressed the chairman. "I'm sorry, Chairman Netero; your question triggered a memory that rather unsettled me and that led to a headache inducing conversation I'm pretty sure I could have done without."

"Am I the only one that feels a little lost?" Remus inquired as his brow crinkled in confusion while he tried not to look at Azalea as if she'd grown a second head.

"Just a moment," Azalea murmured before she called on Tanker and asked the elf to fetch her invisibility cloak, her bag, and the book of fairy tales by Beedle the Bard. Once she had her cloak, her bag, and book in hand, she glanced at Remus and gestured to the room at large as she asked, "Could you please toss up the usual privacy wards, Moony?"

"What…? Why now?"

"Please, Moony? It's important."

Remus grumbled a bit about the request but complied without any hesitation while Azalea dug the Elder Wand out of her bag before she tucked it into her left sleeve. Once the room was secure marshaled her inner Gryffindor and began what would be one of the most difficult conversations she'd had to date.

"In order to answer your question about the way Riddle's Killing Curse rebounded instead of actually hitting me, there are a couple of things I need to explain first," Azalea began as she opened Beedle's book and flipped through it until she came to the Tale of the Three Brothers. She then passed the book to Chairman Netero as she continued, "First, the Tale of the Three Brothers is based on a true story."

"Are you implying that the Deathly Hallows actually exist, Harriet?" Remus asked with a trace of skepticism.

"I'm not implying anything, Remus; I know for a fact that they do exist. You've even used one without knowing it."

"What are you talking…? James's invisibility cloak; you honestly believe that James's invisibility cloak is one of the three Hallows? I think that's something we would have noticed when we were sneaking about Hogwarts beneath that old rag."

"Moony, stop and think about what you know about invisibility cloaks. How long do they usually last before the magic in them begins to unravel?"

"Between ten and twenty years depending on how their made and the materials used, why?"

"Now, can you tell me how long you've known this exact cloak to have been in my father's family?" Azalea prompted as she held up the cloak in question while she ignored the chill radiating from all three of the Deathly Hallows due to their proximity to each other. "It's been around for at least seventeen years since dad still had it when I was born. Then you have to add at least another twenty years to account for the years in between dad's birth and the day I was born. And after that you have to account for Grandfather Potter's long life; he died when he was what, seventy? Eighty?"

"They could have just renewed the enchantments…" Remus tried to rationalize.

"But you know for a fact that they didn't because they have never faded; Padfoot used to tell me that my dad and grandfather used to tell stories about how the cloak had been in their family for centuries, Moony. And repeatedly renewing the enchantments on your average run of the mill invisibility cloak would have eventually unraveled the fabric of the cloak by the end of the first century because threads can only retain so much magic before the magic dissolves them."

"Okay, even if we say that the cloak is the Cloak, how do you account for the Wand or the Stone?"

"During the Death Eater assault on the castle that Malfoy led back at the end of what would have been my sixth year, I disarmed Malfoy mere seconds after he'd killed Professor Dumbledore," Azalea explained as she withdrew the Elder Wand from beneath her sleeve where she had placed it earlier. "Malfoy had, shortly before I made it up to the tower, in turn disarmed Professor Dumbledore and I took both wands when I disarmed Malfoy."

"You've been using Albus's wand all of this time? I thought it just looked similar…"

"Yes, this was formerly Professor Dumbledore's wand and I was the one that stained it red and gold in order to hide the fact that I was the one using his former wand after a fake had been entombed with him when no one could find his wand in time for his funeral. Professor Dumbledore in turn took this wand from…"

"Gellert Grindelwald; that was the wand that killed your great-grandfather, Miss Potter," Chairman Netero interjected as he passed the book of wizarding fairy tales to Mizuken.

"No, that would be like blaming the gun for shooting an innocent when it was the hand behind the gun that pulled the trigger," Azalea countered with a small shake of her head. "The wand was merely the tool that was used to kill Papa Greg; Grindelwald was the one that killed him. Professor Dumbledore won the wand from Grindelwald when he faced the dark wizard in nineteen-forty-five two years after Papa Greg was killed. Grindelwald in turn had stolen the wand from a Wandmaker by the name of Gregorovitch."

"How did you learn so much about the history of that wand?" Mizuken asked curiously as he absently handed the book over to Dr. Mackle after barely skimming through the text.

"Ollivander recognized the wand when I spoke to him back in September. He was the one that informed me that the Hallows actually existed and that Professor Dumbledore's old wand was in fact the Elder Wand from the story."

"Is the origins of that particular wand the reason why you wouldn't let me take the wand from you after you tried to hex Chairman Netero when he walked in on us last week?" Kurapika inquired curiously as he leaned closer to inspect the wand.

"Yes, the Wand of Destiny was known as a rather fickle wand and it changed masters as easily as one changes clothes right up until I took it from Draco Malfoy; though the most common way for it to change hands was through trickery and assassination."

"That's still only two out of three of the Deathly Hallows," Remus pointed out as he glanced between both the cloak and the wand with a slight frown pulling the corners of his mouth down.

In response to Moony's remark, Azalea tugged on the leather cord that held the Resurrection Stone and pulled the ring free from beneath her clothes. She then lifted the ring so that the black stone etched with the symbol of the Deathly Hallows was clearly visible to the rest of the room.

"Wasn't the stone set in the ring cracked when you first found that ring amongst the things Dumbledore left to you," Kurapika wondered as he eyed the Stone with a confused frown.

"The magic in the Hallows healed the crack in the Resurrection Stone the first time I held all three Hallows in my hands back in September right after I'd learned the truth about the origin of Professor Dumbledore's old wand. That was also the first… well, only time that I've ever used to the Stone to call on the spirits of the dead. I spoke to mum, dad, Sirius, and Papa Greg that day. I can pull out a copy of that memory for you to view, if necessary; or I could use the Stone to call on a spirit right now to prove that it is real."

"She speaks the truth," Mizuken confirmed before anyone else could speak up. "I sensed no lies in her words."

Chairman Netero hummed thoughtfully before he asked, "Am I to understand that the three powerful artifacts you now hold ownership of played a significant part in your survival during your final fight against Voldemort?"

"Yes."

"Does that mean that the belief that the one who reunites all three Deathly Hallows becomes the Master of Death is also true?" Remus queried as his earlier frown became more pronounced.

"Yes and no, there is no such thing as a Master of Death; the actual title for the person who gathers the Deathly Hallows is supposed to be something along the lines of Master of their own Death. Meaning that the magic in the Hallows will protect their owner from an untimely death until their owner is ready to move onto the afterlife. Or, at least, that is what Death told me when he spoke to me for the first time just now."

Kurapika flinched the moment Azalea spoke of speaking to Death before he reached out and snagged hold of her and pressed her close to him as if to assure himself that she was still alive. His hands then dropped down to Azalea's stomach in order to check on the babies (though their usual kicks were muted by the spell that had been used to create more room in her womb). Azalea couldn't fault him for his worry; she had been worried about the babies as well.

"The babies are fine, Kura," Azalea assured her fiancé as she reached up to kiss his cheek.

"How is it possible for you have spoken to the entity known as Death just now without our knowledge?" Chairman Netero asked as he glanced about the room as if expecting to see Death hovering about in the corner. "We have been sitting in the room with you this entire time and I am certain that I would have remembered the appearance of such an intimidating being."

"You will need to come to the Infirmary at Headquarters so that I can run several more tests on your and your unborn children; coming into contact with death or any type of death magic is bound to have affected those that is has come into contact with," Dr. Mackle stated as he mentally began compiling what could only be an extensive list of invasive and potentially humiliating tests to put Azalea and her babies through.

"There is no need for any tests; the magic in the Deathly Hallows will not harm me or my babies since their magic is bound to my magic much like Fawkes and Hedwig are bound to my magic. And the reason why I am the only one that saw and heard Death when he was here was because he stopped time in the house and froze everyone inside of it but me so that his presence wouldn't harm anyone in the house."

"Will you show us that memory?" Chairman Netero requested.

"I can show you part of the memory but the rest of it I am forbidden from sharing and I'd really rather not upset Death by attempting to go around the rules he gave me in regards to the knowledge about the Hallows and how they work."

"Let me know when you're ready and I will pull the partial memory," Remus instructed as he climbed to his feet and drew his wand again and Azalea reluctantly pulled herself from Kurapika's arms in order to make it easier for Remus to gather copies of her memories.

"I'm ready now; and you might as well pull the memory of my conversation with Mr. Ollivander and my conversation with my parents, godfather, and great-grandfather at the same time."

Less than ten minutes later, the four older adults were back in the pensieve viewing those memories and Azalea was once more wrapped up in Kurapika's arms. The Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone had been returned to their usual resting places upon her person while the Cloak of Invisibility was half draped over the two of them.

"You know it is rather ironic that you ended up with all three of the Deathly Hallows when you weren't even looking for them," Kurapika mused after a few minutes. "I can still remember teasing you about it back when you were still looking to replace your original wand."

"It was a shock when I learned they actually existed; I'd thought they were just a myth or that they were merely powerful objects created by talented wizards and portrayed as mythical objects due to the stories that revolved around the deeds of their various owners."

"Will you keep them? Or are you going to scatter them again?"

"Death implied that it doesn't matter what I do with the actual Hallows because their magic will be tied to my magic for the rest of my life," Azalea replied as she tried not to think about the fact that her 'life' would technically never end since she'd be reborn with her memories intact for eternity. "He also implied that they would not work for anyone else but me now that I've united them; though I could loan the cloak out to people I trust and it would still hide them. He did say that the wand would just be an ordinary wand in another's hand though."

"If the wand will not work for another; then why were you so adamant about not letting me take it from you last week?"

"I didn't learn that the Elder Wand will only work for me even if someone takes it from me until today. Until I spoke with Death, I still believed that the Wand would give its allegiance to whoever took it from me since that was the way that the Wand of Destiny had been passed from owner to owner since it was first created."

"Why did Death choose to show himself to you today?"

"He said something about sensing my growing fear of myself but I think he was talking about me fearing the magic of the Deathly Hallows and what using the Hallows might have done to the babies."

"Will that magic harm the babies?" Kurapika gruffly demanded as he slid his hands beneath Azalea's shirt to caress her much less noticeably distended stomach.

"No, he said that the magic in the Deathly Hallows is now tied to my magic and that my magic would never harm any child I carry. It was the magic in the Hallows that protected me from Voldemort's final Killing Curse as well; it had shielded me from the curse so that the foul magic never even touched me that day. I think the magic of the Hallows was the reason why I was unresponsive when I first woke up after the battle was over until you called me."

"Why do you think that?"

"Once Death left, the feeling of the world sliding back into focus and time restarting felt the exact same way it had when you first snapped me out of the numbness. Only I didn't feel quite as disoriented but that might have been because I hadn't spent quite as much time detached from the world."

The others would exit the pensieve about that time and Azalea spent another half an hour explaining what she had believed happened at the end of her fight with Voldemort before the three older Hunters would take their leave after making plans to return another day to view the memories of the final battle from several members of the Order.

AN: I'll put up a note later... I burnt my hand tonight and typing kills but I promised this chapter so here it is. Profile will be updated another day & PMs will be answered as soon as it doesn't hurt to type. ~ Jenn