Harry Potter: Divergent Paths

A/N: This story is the third in a massive cross-universal fanfiction series I have envisioned. This can be read as a stand-alone, though it's more understandable with a little knowledge of Naruto. The first two, I will not have posted due to my own need to revise it, though may do so in the future. It may be a rather strange format, but hopefully, you'll bear with me. Also, I do realize that some people might dislike what the second half of this chapter may hint towards for the future of this fanfiction, but I do beseech you to give it a go.

Edit: A twist on the Reptilia28 "Don't Fear the Reaper" challenge, and many others. More in-depth explanation of my hiatus at the end. For now, just enjoy the chapter!

Notice: (1/14/2017) Hi new readers (or old readers coming back)! I'm currently putting the story through a revision process, so the chapters will be getting modified over the course of the next week or so. If you'd like to, you can check the note at the end of the most recent chapter/note for an update near the end of day (for me) from me on how many chapters I have updated~ As of this note posted, I have revised up to Chapter 14. For those of you that do end up reading my long A/Ns, I'd ignore any information on update schedules or sickness up until I post Chapter 51, since everything else is outdated by about half a year~

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Naruto~

Chapter 1 – A New Beginning

Naruto woke with a start, sitting upright for some reason. This was unusual. He looked down at himself, wearing the standard ninja gear that he had long forgotten about. It was somewhat pleasant to be reminded of home.

"Hello," a voice said, distractedly and with a hint of annoyance.

Naruto snapped out of his daze and took a look around. He was sitting in a comfortable leather armchair, in a rather nondescript office room. Behind the ebony desk facing him sat an attractive woman with dark blue hair and eyes, wearing a plain black business suit. She was looking through a rather thick folder with an irritated expression.

Sighing, she looked up at Naruto wearily. "Welcome to my office," she said, staring at him.

He blinked a few times. "Sorry for skipping formalities, but why am I here?"

She sighed again before snapping her fingers. A screen flickered to life on the empty wall behind her. An image of a blue and green planet showed up, before shifting around between pictures of people in cars, working with chemicals, then waving wands, brewing potions.

"This is Earth. For the sake of saving an explanation and some rather pointless generic info, I'm going to implant some information about the world into your head," she said bluntly.

Before he could complain, a compartment on the back of the chair opened up and a stamp rammed into the back of his head. "OW!" The strange insignias that were inked into his cranium flashed blue and disappeared.

His head snapped up and he glared at her. A small smirk was on her face. "That was uncalled for, lady," he snapped.

"You've handled more before," she said dismissively. "Now, let's get to why you're here, shall we?" she smiled.

"Could you introduce yourself first at least?" Naruto asked in exasperation. He didn't really see a point in getting mad at the person who brought him here. And she was right. It really wasn't that bad comparatively.

"Ah, yes. My name is Mira," she replied pleasantly. "I am a Death Angel. I'm one of the many angels who help pass souls through into the Judgment phase of the afterlife. Now, you must be wondering why you're here!" He nodded. "Well, I manage one of the more important souls in this wonderful world, a nexus if you will. The way his life plays out, the actions he takes, the ideals he follows, and whatnot essentially determine the future of the world. I'm sure you're rather familiar with that concept."

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, pondering what this would mean. He saw where this was going. Re-focusing, he asked, "What has happened that required me to be here?"

She sighed and the screen behind her flickered again. "Well, you see, the soul I'm in charge of at the moment was supposed to be destined for great things. Instead, he succeeded in his more direct quest, but died after living an unsatisfied life. Harry James Potter."

A cute baby with messy black hair and radiant green eyes cried softly. He was sitting behind a woman, his mother, collapsed on the floor. A scar in the shape of a lightning bolt crackled on his forehead. "A child born with a great destiny. He lost both of his parents to the musings of an ambitious man named Tom Marvolo Riddle, the self-proclaimed Lord Voldemort. He let down his guard and the protections that Lily Potter, Harry's mother, laid onto the child at the cost of her life destroyed Tom's body."

Naruto nodded softly in understanding. Oh, how he understood. Mira noted the silent reaction, but continued on. "Harry James Potter was supposed to be raised under his godfather, Sirius Orion Black, his uncle in all but blood, Remus John Lupin, but the self-proclaimed leader of the light, Albus Dumbledore," she growled. "Oh, the old fool."

"Instead, Dumbledore sent Hagrid, a half-giant with a big heart, but the naiveté of a child. Hagrid retrieved Harry on the orders of the bumbling old codger. He then proceeded to leave young Harry in the 'care' of the people that Lily Rose and James Charlus specifically said NOT to give Harry to, as ordained by their will. A will that Dumbledore witnessed and should have followed. That was how Harry came to live with his abusive relatives, the Dursley family."

"Sirius Orion, in his grief and rage, completely forgot his duties and chased after Peter Pettigrew, their former friend and now betrayer. During their confrontation, Pettigrew killed 12 Muggles, cut off his finger, and turned into a rat, escaping the scene and leaving Sirius dazed. He was subsequently framed and jailed under the eye of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore; the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards. Even though the old bearded wizard knew that the Potters had switched their Secret Keeper from Sirius to Peter, he still allowed the farce to occur through his inaction."

"Remus John drowned himself in liquor and hid himself from the world, stricken by the grief of losing three of his friends, and the betrayal from another. Unaware of the truth, he hid himself away and forgot his duty to Harry."

"Albus Dumbledore bound the boy's magical core, severely damaging Harry's growth. The result was a Harry James Potter that was a shade in comparison to his true potential. He died several times because of that one."

"What do you mean by 'deaths'?"

"We'll get to that in due time. Anyway, Fumbledore, made that excuse on basis of the fact that the Dursleys severely disapproved of magic. He deluded himself into thinking that he did it for Harry's safety but was ignorant of how harshly they could have and did treat him. Vernon Dursley tried to beat the 'unnaturalness' out of young Harry on multiple occasions…" Mira shook her head. "Dumbledore didn't understand this possibility and ignored the warnings and reports that Arabella Figg sent him. Dumbledore simply knew that, starved for affection, Harry James Potter would enter the magical world and look to him for guidance. A perfect chess piece for his Greater Good game."

"That idiot!" Naruto shouted. The room shook from Naruto's rage, an aura beginning to form around him. Mira slapped him on the head with a ruler, immediately dispelling the gathering power.

Naruto rubbed his head pitifully, doing a rather nice job of acting like a kicked puppy. Mira stared him down, resisting his silly act. "Calm down before you piss off the other Reapers and Angels. I don't like it either, but there's not much we can do about his mistakes anymore."

He dropped the act, conceding the point. "All right then. What else did he do to mess up Harry's life?"

"Albus Wulfric arranged for Ronald Bilius Weasley, the youngest son of a family long tied into the side of the 'light,' to introduce himself to Harry, become his friend, and tie down Harry. Ronald went to so far as to sabotage Harry's chances at gaining more friends by spitting lies about Harry's thoughts, ideas, and who he wanted to befriend, and warning off others who tried to approach our destined boy. Dumbledore also arranged for the matron Weasley to take on a role as a surrogate mother and for the young girl Weasley to marry him later in life."

"For the 'Greater Good,' Albus Dumbledore told the matron Weasley to make sure Harry James was connected to the 'light' side of families completely, through her family. So, Molly Weasley thought it would be best to dose him with loyalty potions geared towards her youngest son later on. Ronald Bilius was aware of this and didn't do much of anything to stop it. At some point, Molly Weasley thought it best to also dose Harry love potions keyed to Ginevra Molly Weasley, her only daughter, to make sure her little girl had a nice future. The little lady didn't do much of anything to stop it either, still rather mentally unstable from her trauma in the second year and not quite completely over her hero worship when she was younger. And of course, the Weasley matron dosed the Granger girl with a love potion for Ronald Bilius later on, to hopefully balance out her rather lacking son."

Naruto clenched his fist. "What the hell? Why would anybody in their right mind do that? Wouldn't constant potion dosage muddle Harry's mind and weaken his development? Why would Dumbledore not do anything about that?"

"Ha, the old idiot," Mira scoffed, "didn't see anything because Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore has played his game of manipulations for far too long. He no longer sees the individuals for what they are, nor does he act in their best interest all the time. He does what his 'Greater Good' ideal requires and the vulnerability Harry's mind showed was suitable for the bumbling old codger's needs. It never needed to be fixed. As for Molly Weasley, I do not know. Perhaps the way she came into marriage with Arthur Weasley twisted her views on the use of potions."

"Oh? Did she ensnare that poor man, as well?" Naruto asked with light venom.

"Surprisingly, no," Mira conceded. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Arthur Weasley was actually in love with Molly Weasley née Prewitt. The love potion she gave the shy man simply lowered his inhibitions and allowed them to finally cement the relationship, if you understand my meaning."

Naruto retched a little, but nodded in acceptance. "So, the single good outcome blinded her to the potential bad? Would it be ok to assume that Molly Weasley perhaps, in her self-imposed role as a surrogate magical mother to Harry James Potter and Hermione Jean Granger, thought it would be in their best interests to match them to her youngest children?"

"You might be right in that assumption," Mira acknowledged. "Perhaps even, since her children were finally all off at Hogwarts or away from home, she unknowingly, or not, focused on doing what she could to make sure her children got the best they could, disregarding what Harry and Hermione might actually have wanted. I don't think this is something we can speculate on. Perhaps, you should ask the woman in question when you meet her, hypothetically, or through whatever means."

"But, wouldn't everything have already happened?"

"I will explain that later."

"Ok then. How should Harry's life actually turned out, free from whatever potions he was dosed with?"

Mira continued. "Harry James Potter should have come into his own rights as a powerful wizard, meet his best friend and definite soul mate, Hermione Granger, maybe even bond with some more of the witches he's compatible with, become close friends with Neville Francis Longbottom, Luna Celeste Lovegood, and many others. Harry should have been present and ready for the resurrection of dear old Tommy boy, grievously wounded him, driven him away and forcing him to flee in fear, capture Peter Pettigrew, announce the resurrection, prepare the Ministry for the war, hunt down the remaining Horcruxes, kill Tom once and for all, take a dominant position in the Wizengamot to reform the bigoted Magical Britain, have plenty of children with his wife/wives, live a plentiful life, and come and pass through," she ranted, nearing a shout at some points.

Mira took a breather and gave Naruto a moment take it all in. He still wasn't particularly a fan of the whole fate and destiny deal, but who was he to speak? Not after all of the greater destinies he had been a part of, with the blessings of the previous deities he'd encountered. No, he was needed to both better somebody's life and guarantee a future for that section of the world as a whole. He would do it.

"So, you need me to guide Harry along his path for this go through?" Naruto asked.

"Hm," Mira hummed. "Yes, just about. I had the meeting with Harry earlier before you came to. See, the thing is, Harry has already had multiple deaths and has needed to reset his life quite the few times already."

Naruto stared at her with disbelief. She snapped her fingers and the screen started flipping through multiple grisly images of the boy's deaths.

"Let's see. Death from infection when one 'Aunt Marge' set his dogs on the poor boy. Brained by a troll, when his 'best mate' Ronald pushed him in fear. Chew toy for Fluffy the Cerberus. Mind destroyed by Tommy's shade in the Forbidden Forest. Impaled by many, many charmed keys. Brained by a magical chess piece when Ronald screwed up."

"Unfortunately, that was just the first year. And not all of the deaths. Every time, I had to reset him to a slightly earlier point in time to re-approach what he was killed by! Harry has died 47 times already, something that wouldn't have happened if he was raised as he should have been," Mira said angrily. "So, I'm at the end of my rope. If Harry doesn't succeed this time, I get demoted back to Ferrywoman of Styx… It's mind-numbingly boring and the best conversation you'll find during your shift is… I'm rambling. You get the point."

"Right…" Naruto said, eyebrow raised.

"This time around, I was authorized to pull in some outside help, namely you. His most recent death was actually after he vanquished Tom Marvolo, but lacked the willpower, ambition, and general cognizance to realize that magical Britain needed change. He ended up married to Ginevra Weasley after enough potion dosage and befuddled mental processing. For this final attempt, I'm sending Harry James all the way back to June of 1991 and you'll be there for him."

"Pretty straight-forward. I guess. Kind of. I'll figure it out as I go then," Naruto said. "Do I have to follow any rules? Like, don't disrupt the timeline too much or anything? And what and where am I starting from?"

Mira's expression fell, regret showing on her face. "Unfortunately, I can only send you to the date of June 21st, 1991. You can't go back and stop the elder Potters from dying. You won't be able to save Pandora Lovegood, Luna Celeste Lovegood's mother, from her accident. You won't be able to take Harry away from his relatives before he suffers through all of the abuse. Mental, emotional, and physical.

Naruto nodded somberly. He understood what it was like, to grow up with hate, to grow up without parents. But, at the very least, he had a companion to talk to. And super-human regeneration.

In his world, to be a ninja, you had to be able to handle pain. But, this wasn't his world and the past few hadn't been either. A child shouldn't have to go through that kind of pain here.

Mira spoke up again. "However, with this…"

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

She had a deeply contemplative look on her face before finally responding, blue eyes softened. "There's an opportunity presented with this go-around that was never exploitable in any other. The chance for redemption." Seeing the confusion in Naruto's eyes, she continued. "I imagine that you are aware of the existence of alternate universes, never mind utterly different universes?"

"Of course," Naruto responded. "I've experienced the strange circumstances before. What's your point?"

Mira nodded. "Well, our office building isn't the only afterlife company in for particular series of universes. We maintain contact with the companies for other versions of this world, this world of witchcraft and wizardry. People…Humanity is one of the most flawed species, yet one of the most perfect at the same time. It is both their capacity for great things and horrible things that makes it so."

Naruto saw where she was going with this. "Redemption… You mean that people like Molly Weasley, Albus Dumbledore, Ron Weasley, etc., in alternate universes, weren't as bad or could even be said to be good?"

Mira nodded. "Perceptive. Yes, that is exactly what I mean. I will spare you the numerous examples of their differences, but… some of them will be worth sparing. Nobody is set in stone and we'd prefer to hand out more good endings than bad. However, some people will simply be irredeemable. Don't feel bad for them when you crush them into the ground like past. Any number of triggers could have created the characters that Harry Potter met the first time around, but that doesn't mean it has to be the same again. Give second chances…just not to the degree that Albus Dumbledore always does."

Naruto bowed his head down in thought, hands clasped together upward and elbows on his legs. When he looked up again, he had determination set in his eyes and nodded. "Okay. I'll change what I can. I'll save who I can. But, you can bet my soul that I'll take good care of Harry. I won't let him suffer anything I can help this time around…"

"Of course you will," Mira said with a small smile. She didn't doubt that he would do his best to give Harry the friendship and care he missed out on. A brother or father, whatever approach he decided to take, in spirit would do him some good. "And to make sure you can do what you need to do, I've made some changes to the world. My reality-bending allowance is going to be running low for a while though."

Naruto nodded in acceptance. "What am I working with?"

The screen flickered behind her again, showing a charming boy of about 11 years old, a few inches taller than average, with raven-black hair and deep purple eyes. The boy had Naruto's patented foxy grin plastered on his face.

"Meet Adrian Vulpis. Your birthday is September 16, 1979. This will be you when you enter the world," Mira said with a smile, rather proud of her own work. Took her a while to figure out how to build his body, kind of like how it always took forever for her to make her characters in the Ancient Rolls game series. "The last member of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Vulpis."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "I don't remember that being one of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses from the information you so 'gently' gave me," he said with a hint of bitterness. He didn't appreciate getting surprise-slammed with information.

"Like I said dear, reality-bending!" Mira chimed, ignoring his remark. "Don't worry about the details. As far as anybody in Magical Britain is concerned, the Noble and Most Ancient House Vulpis has existed for about as long as the Potters have. Quite long, indeed. Goblins and wizards alike. You have your own vault and everything!"

"How much…?" he said cautiously.

"Oh. Enough," she said cheekily. "Moving on...your line also leads into and leaves you as the primary heir of the founder Salazar Slytherin. That took quite a bit of power to happen. I'm sure youi're clever enough to figure out what that means and what you should do with that title when the time comes."

Naruto sighed. "All right then. More?"

"Oh, lots," Mira replied happily. He groaned a little. "Now, as a byproduct of the raw power you held as a ninja, you have energy to spare. Your magical power will be far beyond the likes of Tom Marvolo Riddle and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore combined when you mature fully. The control you hold over your magic will be unlike any have ever seen. The various types of energy and magic that you've wielded in your past lives have influenced your magic quite dramatically. The wizards and witches of this world won't know what to do when they see you at work. You will be unique in that. I trust you know how to exercise caution and control. When and when not to use it."

Naruto nodded. You didn't get very far as a ninja without knowing subtlety.

"Your chakra core will lie dormant within your being, an integral part of your soul. You wouldn't be who you are without it. However, as it is, the only ability you'll have available to you are the shadow clones, though it's arguably your most useful ability, isn't it? Your natural control over your mind translates into a mastery of the mind magic Occlumency, and you'll be a Parselmouth as is natural of one in the line of Slytherin. It might take a while for you to get used to your body and get back in shape, but your instincts should come back to you pretty easily."

"Right," he said with a grin. "This should be fun. So, I'm only going to be 11? What about guardians?"

"Just magically emancipate yourself," Mira scoffed, waving it off. "You're the last of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Vulpis, so the goblins should be able to get that done for you. You'll probably need blood confirmation, however. I'm sure you can handle yourself after that."

"Anything else I should know?" he asked. When a sinister gleam entered Mira's eyes, he cringed and started sweating a little.

"Well, there are some fun and helpful surprises I have waiting for you, but what's the joy if you don't stumble across them!" she said, voice so sickly sweet that it sent shivers down his spine. "Oh, and some more knowledge."

Naruto's eyes snapped wide open, but before he could do anything, he was stamped once again. He snapped back up after the information loaded, severely irritated. "YOU BI-"

Mira smiled. "Give 'em hell, Adrian," she said, waving good-bye before slapping down a red button that had just popped up on her desk. A hole opened up underneath his seat.

His eyes bugged out comically before he suddenly dropped like a rock into the darkness, words lost in the fall. The floor shut over the hole and a new armchair plopped down from the ceiling, bouncing unrealistically. Mira took a sip from a cup of coffee that had just appeared on her desk.

"Ah, I love doing that," she said contentedly. "I'll make it up to him later or something." She swiveled around in her chair absently for a few moments. "I wonder if my other request went through. She would be a great help to him."

Mira leaned back in her chair, stretching out a little. "Well, this should be fun. Maybe the higher-ups will actually like the results this time. He's pretty highly recommended, despite the headaches he's said to always make…"

…..

She walked through the building with agitated steps. The summons had been spontaneous, her anxiety was at a high. What would he possibly need from them?

A calming hand placed itself on her arm, one sensing the distress of the other. She smiled in appreciation. He had made it easy on her through the few years they had together, despite the strangeness of how it all started out.

They reached a familiar-looking door. It felt like it was just five days ago that they had left from it. She knocked on the door and waited with her partner.

"Come in," a voice called out.

They entered cautiously before seeing him seated behind his mahogany desk. He gestured for them to sit. They took their seats on the couch in front of him.

"Ah, welcome back," the man with silver hair and blue eyes stated. "How was the White City?"

"It was pleasant, if not…lacking," she answered tentatively. "What do you want from us, Julius?"

He chuckled. "Well, you're perhaps one of the few people I've heard answer that way," Julius replied. "Anyway, let's get to business. I had a request from one of my friends for something rather important. What do you suppose my friend would want from you two, James, Lily?"

James Charlus Potter and Lily Rose Potter née Evans were confused. "What would a different Death Reaper want from us?" James asked.

"Death Angel," Julius corrected with a smirk. "Well, my friend Mira happens to be the Death Angel in charge of one green-eyed little boy. You may be familiar with the individual."

"Harry?!" Lily shouted, nearly jumping out of her chair. "What happened!? He's only one…"

An expression of shock was plastered on James' face, his mind slowly nearing despair. Lily was getting closer and closer to free-falling tears.

"Oh, calm down you two. Harry James is perfectly fine," Julius finally said, feeling bad for letting them deteriorate. Regular humans were ever so fragile. "In a sense of the word. To clear up a misconception, while it may feel like it has only been five days, you've been here for an actuality of around 20 or so years."

Lily and James calmed down quickly and composed themselves, though their thoughts were still somewhat shaken. You didn't get to be two of the most powerful wizards and witches that Hogwarts had ever produced without the ability to compose yourselves. "And our bodies haven't changed in experience because we're not physical? It's based on the psyche, then?" she deduced.

"Ten points to Gryffindor," Julius quipped.

"So, Harry is 21 years old now," Lily whispered. "I…I just wanted to…but, I missed it all…"

"Lils…" James said softly. Her shoulders slouched, her eyes watered.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Julius interrupted. "First of all, Harry isn't 21. He's actually going to be 11, again." Lily blinked the gathering tears away, sitting herself up straight. She needed to hear everything, not collapse every time something bad happened. That wouldn't do. She'd become complacent.

"What do you mean by that?" James asked. "What do you mean by 'again'? Unless… he's died before? And he's been revived into an earlier time?" he finally concluded, connecting the dots from vague details he'd collected.

Lily pulled herself together again. 'I shouldn't be acting like this,' she thought. "Why are we here, Julius? Just tell us," she said, wanting to get to the business at hand. It had something to do with her Harry. She wasn't worried about knowing that he had died at this point. She'd calmed down enough. And she'd remembered that souls that were sent back to the living world lost their memories of everything that had happened post-mortem/post revival time.

"I'll stop hopping around the issue then," Julius said, smirking. He'd been waiting for her to calm down sufficiently. This place did weird things to human emotions. "The higher ups decided that Harry James Potter, your son, needed help in fulfilling his destiny and Mira was authorized to bring in some outside help. She also asked for my help. She's been authorized to request one of you two to return to the living world."

Lily bolted upright, startled by the offer. The red-headed witch was just about speak, before she registered the details in the last statement. "Only one of us?" she asked nervously.

"Yes. In order to put you back into reality, we're going to need to give you a new identity. We only have a limited amount of space to work with. We could twist back time for your son, given that he's a nexus of change for the world as a whole. If magical Britain's bigotry goes unchecked, it will cause issues for the rest of the world, even a potential extermination of all wizard-kind. However, only Mira is permitted to be using her reality-bending reserves at the moment, and bringing you back to life, or bringing back both of you, would be too high of a cost for what she has available for use in this particular task."

"James, I…" Lily started hesitantly.

"No, it's all right, Lils. I understand," James said with a smile. "I think you'd be of more use to Harry than I would be. And I know how much you want this."

Lily nodded. "Thank you, James…for everything. For being my friend, my partner for so long. For putting up with my selfish request for so long…" she said quietly.

"It wasn't a problem at all," James said, shaking his head. "Besides, if it wasn't for you, who knows what I might've had to go through?" he added with a grin. "Too many gifts that I feared were doused in love potion before we married."

"You always were popular, James," Lily replied with a small smile.

"Ah, but my charming personality, devilishly good lucks, and everything else they fell for still wasn't quite enough to win over your love even after all the years, hm?" James joked. "And no, don't feel bad for that. I don't hold that against you. I can't," he said quickly, cutting off her apology. He turned their attention back towards Julius. "So, what's going to happen?"

Julius nodded and a screen flickered alive on the wall behind him. Beautiful dark red hair, piercing bright green eyes. A younger version of Lily. "This is Iris Linnea Potter. Harry James Potter's older sister, born October 3rd, 1979. This will be your new identity."

"How did you…"

"We predicted that you would be the one going back, so we went ahead and made her."

"So, you're just inserting her into the world? Considering that we never had a daughter," Lily remarked.

"Iris Linnea Potter was born in secrecy due to your situation and was present in Godric's Hollow the night of your deaths. When Hagrid brought both Harry and Iris, Harry James was left with the Dursleys and Albus Dumbledore sent Iris Linnea to one of the magical orphanages, deciding the Dursleys might not be able to handle more than one child left on their doorstep by the great bearded stork," Julius stated. "Well, that's what we made happen at least. So, Dumbledore, Hagrid, and McGonagall know about you. Anybody else if up for the universe to decide. Now, after we send you back, you'll meet the person we sent to help Harry out. I think Mira will be meeting you and the helper at your arrival location and you will get briefed there."

"How much of my magical aptitude am I going to keep when I go back?" Lily asked. "I imagine I won't be able to use magic like I used to…"

"Ah yes. Well, you'll still be a strong witch, easily on par with and/or greater than Bellatrix Black if you need a reference, when you develop. Really, such a shame how she turned out… When you study Charms and Potions again, they'll come back to you pretty easily based off of your past proficiency. Everything else will also be easier, but those two will be the easiest. Hm, what else," Julius hummed, tapping his chin. "Oh right. Once you become Iris Linnea Potter, you will start losing clarity over your identity as Lily Rose Potter née Evans. "

Lily quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean? I'm going to forget myself?"

"Yes, inserting you into the new body is going to change your soul in a way. You'll keep your personality, but your magical signature will change. Most importantly, I suppose, is that you will remember Lily Rose Potter, you simply won't be able to identify yourself as her. Only as Iris Linnea Potter."

James looked at Lily. He could see she was taking some time to think about this, though he doubted it would do anything to stop her from continuing. He sighed, feeling quite useless.

"James," Lily said, snapping the messy-haired man out of his slight sulk. "I… I think I need to do this." Her determination was clear in her eyes.

He smiled back. "I'd expect nothing less from the woman I fell in love with. Go help him, Lils."

Lily nodded. "I…you're a great man, James Charlus Potter. I have no regrets in spending those years with you. But, I'm sorry I couldn't go that final way for you."

James just chuckled. "Like I said, you don't have anything to be sorry about," he stated with a shrug. "I was once told that if you truly love somebody, you would want what's best for them, even if that means that you're not the one they love. The most you can do is support them from behind and watch them find their own happiness. When you go back, Iris Linnea Potter, you'll be living a new life. Go help Harry and maybe while you're growing up again, you'll find the guy that was meant for you," he said with a grin. "And if you don't, I'll figure out some way to prank you from up here. You'd help me with that, right Julius?"

The Grim Reaper just shrugged, messing with a purple Slinky he'd grabbed from nowhere. "If I feel like it."

Lily lightly punched James on the shoulder. "All right then. Thank you James." She turned to face Julius. "I'm ready to go whenever."

"Great!" Julius said with an eager smile. An ominously red button popped up on his desk. "Goodbye and good luck!" He smacked the button and a hole opened up underneath Lily's position, her side of the couch detaching from James'.

She fell right away, surprise etched on her face before she disappeared into the darkness. James stared at the hole until it finally shut and the other side of the couch regenerated like a lizard's tail.

"Well, what do I do now?" the green-eyed man asked.

Julius shrugged. "Don't know. You could hang out with me, unless you want to go back to the White City."

James shook his head. "No thanks. It might be fun for some people, but I find it really boring there…have anything to do?"

A screen flickered up behind Julius again, with a 'Please Wait' message in the middle. "Well, we can watch what Iris and the other helper are up to later, once they both finish getting there. Meanwhile, however," Julius said with a devious grin, "we can go prank the other Reapers and Angels."

"That…sounds like fun," James replied with a matching grin. It was time to fire up the old Marauder's spirit.

He stepped towards the door, following the fleeting, mischievous figure of Julius. Before he stepped completely through the threshold, he looked back at the couch he had just been sitting on and the mental figure of the woman he had always loved. "Good luck, Iris," he whispered with a smile. "Time for you to move on."

The door closed.

…..

A/N: Now then. Honestly, I've had this chapter saved up for quite some time. That, and two more. I decided that I wanted to revamp my story, slow it down a little. I felt like I moved a bit too quickly with the other story and gave too many advantaged to Aiden the first time around, so I thought I would approach it differently. That was about six months ago.

Then I started college and other things came up, and I basically lost all semblance of writing anything for a while. But now, hopefully, I've returned and I'm ready to try to write up a new story. I might never get to where I want to, but I'm determined to get as far as I can. Cheers!