RECAP: It doesn't really matter that Harry is from the future or who knows he's from the future, that future has completely blown to bits.

AN: To the readers who thought my plot was drawing to end for this fic; yes, I am laughing at you and here's a short chapter show you why ;)

Much love to the reviewers, I may not write because of you, but I certainly post for thee.

Chapter 21 - Mastering Death

His allies were gone, his secrets out, and Harry Potter had doubtless revealed all to Albus Dumbledore.

All his careful planning, only to be thwarted by a boy. He would make him pay, he would wipe the Potter family off the face of the planet. There would not be a wizard or witch left in his line, not even his mudblood mother.

But first, Voldemort needed a wand.

Things were easier with Andromeda and Sirius around, mainly because they didn't treat him like he was invalid. They didn't look concerned or freak when he jumped back three feet at a passing shadow or tried to rub invisible spots off his skin.

They treated him just as they had always done, and most importantly, they didn't ask if he was okay.

Eating was problematic. He was hungry, almost always, but two bites in and he couldn't finish anything -aside from bland chicken broth. Harry was frustrated with himself, his body, and at every instance, he did something that made his Grandma Euphemia look sad.

He wanted to be okay. He was healed, he had survived countless attempts on his life before.

But some fates were worse than death, and what Voldemort had done to him, what he was going to do to him-

Andromeda ran her fingers along the side of his hand. He pulled in a sharp breath and gave her a tentative smile that he knew didn't reach his eyes. But he forced his breath to even out and laced his fingers with hers.

She and Sirius had been here for three days and tomorrow they would all been going back to school, thankful, Harry had received special permission to arrive in Hogsmeade by way of apparition. Yes, the train would be safe, Dumbledore himself would there, but Harry was having problems with panic attacks as it was, and he wanted longer than half a week of being out of danger before getting back on that train.

The start of the new term had officially been pushed back by two weeks, and Harry wondered who else would be having trouble going back to normal.

Euphemia and Fleamont had tried to convince him he could stay home if he wanted, but Harry knew it would be safer for them if he left.

Besides, he wanted to go back to being more himself and Hogwarts was the place to do that. Hogwarts, where nothing was truly normal.

James popped his head into the Potter Library, he smiled at them both and said, "Hi. Andromeda, you have visitors."

"Who?" she asked him shortly.

"Your sisters and your father."

She stood and gripped Harry's hand hard, he pleased to be the one giving rather than receiving comfort, for once.

"You should stay here," Andromeda said.

"It's okay, I want to meet your family," Harry said, knowing it was Bella she was afraid to introduce him to.

They followed James down the hall, Andromeda never letting go of his hand. She halted and at the top of the stairs, and Harry halted with her, James going on ahead.

Bellatrix's head snapped up to look at them and she was…

She wasn't Harry expected her to be.

Nor was she deranged monster he had seen in the newspapers or wanted posters last year. At first glance, she looked remarkably like Andromeda, but her hair was darker, sleeker, and her eyes… Her eyes were very dark, from this distance they looked black, and her expression…

Hungry, wary, curious.

She reminded Harry of some semi-feral cat, looking for attention, food, but ready to bolt, ready to unsheath claws and dig a bloody way out if it had to. Her gaze honed on Andromeda, then reluctantly flicked to Harry.

If he didn't know any better, he might have said she was afraid of him.

Andromeda squeezed his hand, giving a slight tug without walking forward, asking him if he really wanted to do this.

In answer he began down the steps, she followed at his side. Andromeda's father stood tall and proud behind Bella and Narcissa. Narcissa regarded Harry coolly while their father's dark eyes were wholly stood by James' side.

When they got to the foot of the steps, Bella started toward them, but hesitated, giving Harry another near fearful look.

He let go of Andromeda's hand and Bella launched herself at her, embracing her sister with enough strength that he marveled at Andromeda's ability to stay steady on her feet.

"May I speak now?" Andromeda's father drawled in a tone that was almost painfully dry.

Narcissa and Sirius glared at him while James and Harry exchanged a confused glance.

Bella released her sister, grabbing her left hand and pressing close to Andromeda's side, Narcissa took up a spot to Bella's left. The three Black sisters squared off against their father.

He raised a brow at his daughters, waiting.

"He showed up at Malfoy Manor and asked to speak with us, but we refused to see him without you," Narcissa said coldly to Andromeda.

Andromeda said -ordered, in a voice nearly as cold, "Speak, Father."

Harry could have sworn that the older Black's lips twitched upward, but the expression was gone in a blink of an eye. "Your mother and I have annulled our marriage. Her bags are packed and she has returned to her parents' home. I am sorry to say the Rosier family is quite cross with the lot of us."

He didn't sound sorry at all, if anything, he sounded cruelly delighted, at least he did to Harry.

Sirius, Andromeda, and Narcissa gaped at him, Bella watched Andromeda's reaction like a bird of prey.

"A divorce?" Narcissa asked, her voice cracking, "You divorced her?"

He nodded.

"Wow," Sirius said, looking as if someone had just hit him over the head with a mallet, and he repeated more quietly, "wow."

Andromeda pulled away from Bella, "Does she-?"

Her father held out a hand to her, "No, my dear, that woman has no claim on you, she has nothing, no claim to anything. In legal terms, she is dead to us."

Andromeda hugged him much the same way Bella had hugged her. He held out one arm to the others and wordlessly Narcissa and Bella joined the group hug. Their father bent his head over his daughters, hiding his expression from the rooms.

Sirius was grinning, while James and Harry exchanged a shrug.

When the sisters pulled back, Andromeda turned to Harry with a smile that had his chest swelling.

She was so beautiful, warm and bright as the sun.

"Father, this is my boyfriend, Harry Potter," she introduced, "Harry, this is my father, Cygnus Black."

Cygnus extended a hand which Harry shook, "A pleasure, Mr. Potter."

"It is good to meet you, Mr. Black," Harry said formally.

Sirius snickered, Narcissa stepping toward him to slap the back of his head, he ducked bark-laughing at her.

Cygnus didn't so much smile, as his eyes crinkled, "Welcome to the less than sane family."

James bumped his shoulder against Harry's, "Potters aren't much better, to be honest with you, Sir."

It was at this point when Euphemia and Fleamont entered the room, the first thing out of Euphemia's mouth was a stern, "My sons will not be engaged before graduating from Hogwarts."

This time, Cygnus did smile. "No," he said, "no, this year is the start of breaking many a tradition, I think."

"When was the last time two purebloods got a divorce?" Sirius asked.

Euphemia and Fleamont gaped at Cygnus who answered Sirius seriously, "1705, something to do with twins I believe."

"Is divorce really that uncommon in wizarding families?" Harry asked.

"For a court sectioned divorce, yes," Bella answered, speaking to Harry for the first time. "Traditionally, if purebloods want a divorce someone winds up dead, some magical accident or another."

He blinked at her.

Cygnus chimed in -disconcertingly upbeat, "Which would have been a far easier solution, but not nearly as humiliating for my ex-wife. I think the Rosiers, Druella included, would have preferred a swift smothering in the night or even gruesome slaughter. It would have made for a memorable story."

Euphemia and Fleamont looked toward Andromeda and Harry where they were again holding hands.

Harry could almost hear them think it, Are you sure this is the family you wish to join?

Harry simply turned to Bellatrix and asked, "So, how was France?"

Bella's eyes didn't exactly warm but her expression became more open as she grinned at him, in that moment looking more like Sirius than Andromeda.

Andromeda put an arm around his waist, and it was surrounded by this crazy group of magical folk, Harry began to feel more grounded.

The students were back at school, and it broke Albus' heart to see the skittish ones, the students depressed from losing a friend or a role model.

The prefects occupied a position that touched more than just their friend group, more than just their year or even their own house.

The first years seemed cut adrift as they shuffled in packs from place to place.

The Quidditch season had been canceled as nearly half the prefects had been on their respective teams. The hole they had left in their communities yawned wide, yet it was only with their valor, theirs and a few of the older years stepping up to fight, to protect, that their losses hadn't been greater.

Albus shuddered to think what could have been. Had he been any later, even by a minute, it wouldn't have been five students who had perished, but perhaps -if they were lucky, five who survived.

It was the greatest evil, to attack children, and no one in their society, no one of any worth would support Tom now.

Albus didn't sleep much these days, and his worry for his students was a growing reality in his life, so rather than hunting a rogue dark lord, he spent much of his time reinforcing wards on the castle, on the secret passageways, as well as creating new ones on the train, on the train tracks, on Hogsmeade, and even on the Forbidden Forest.

His only comfort was that Harry Potter had been found. Yes, he was a time traveler, yes, the future he had presented was less than ideal, but Albus was determined to make a better future.

Students should never be forced to fight for their lives, but as he was learning this wasn't to say they couldn't. Shielding them from danger was a priority, but shielding them from harsh truths was delusional and counterproductive.

It was a fine balance, but he would do better, he had to.

Perhaps, it was time he hired a new History of Magic professor.

Albus watched the dawn, watched the first owl of the day deliver the Daily Prophet that would throw his world upside down.

Again.

GRINDELWALD ESCAPED FROM NURMENGARD CASTLE!

The walls felt as if they were closing in around him.

Gellert was free, loosed once more on the world.

Albus could not breathe, his weathered hands shaking as he stared into the picture of the past, at the man he had once loved.

This couldn't be happening, not now. Wasn't one dark lord enough to deal with?

Gellert was free.

What would he do? Where would he go?

What did he have left to lose? What did Gellert or Tom have left to lose?

Dangerous, there wasn't an adequate description for how dangerous either dark lord could be. Defeated, but not dead, not powerless.

Would Gellert try again for the Deathly Hollows?

Albus gripped the Elder Wand and thought of snapping it.

Fawkes sang, and Albus looked up at his familiar, he felt the tears fall down his face.

Fawkes flew to his shoulder and warbled a melody that rendered what remained of his heart.

He had said he would do better, promised himself he would be better than the man in Harry Potter's memory.

Raising his wand between both hands he broke the wand with no equal, the wand that was one-third of the equation of mastering Death.

But Death was not meant to be mastered. They all died, that's would every living thing on this planet held in common, one day, they would all die.

Phoenix song filled the room as sunshine bathed his office, setting his collection of trinkets glittering in the light.

Fawkes gently plucked the wand halves from his hand, and on the way flying back to his perch, the Elder Wand was turned to ash.

Albus looked down at the face smirking charmingly back up at him. And said and swore to himself, to Gellert, to Harry Potter, that he would do whatever it took to keep his students safe.

"For a better future," he whispered, closing his eyes and trying to think past the panic, the despair, and the slightest shimmer of traitorous relief.

AN: Reactions, thoughts, predictions, or witty remarks? Pretty, pretty please?