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Harry Potter and the Incarnation of Death:

Chapter Three:

Harry woke on his own what felt like days later and scrambled out of bed, worried that he had missed his meeting with the two (four?) goddesses to see a girl about a job. He rushed out of the bedroom and into the kitchen calling for the butler.

"Jefferson!"

The man seemed to appear from nowhere, "Yes sir?"

"Why didn't you wake me? What time is it? How long was I out?"

The proper English Butler didn't even bat an eyelash, "Four hours sir."

"Four...really?"

"Yes sir, you will find that as an Incarnation you really have no need of sleep though many enjoy resting themselves out of habit. Would you like some tea sir?"

Harry nodded and tried to remove the gobsmacked look from his face, "Um, yes please. Strong with honey and milk?"

"Of course sir, would you prefer the dining room or the living room?" Jefferson asked.

"The dining room I think, I haven't seen half the rooms in this house yet, might as well make a point of it."

The older gentleman nodded, "As you say sir, the dining room is through that door. I will be in shortly with your drink. Would you like something to eat as well?"

Harry had to think about it for a moment, while he wasn't really hungry he figured it might be a while before he would get the chance to eat again. "Perhaps a sandwich...and some soup?"

"Of course sir, if you would?" he gestured to the door and Harry walked into the other room.

Inside he found an ebony table and chairs with bone white china place settings. The walls were a deep blood red and the chandelier held several brightly glowing candles giving the room a dark look that reminded him of everything Grimmauld Place wished it could be. As he sat he began to wonder about some of the other details of his new life he had yet to discover, and thinking of Grimmauld Place let him to thoughts of his Godfather; and through him, to his parents.

Jefferson appeared in the doorway with a tea cup of the same bone china and a plate with a metal cover over the top. Setting both in front of Harry he removed the shield to reveal a Turkey sandwich and a steaming bowl of tomato soup. "Thank you Jefferson, it looks delicious."

"My pleasure sir, will that be all?"

Harry took a bite of his sandwich as he thought through several things, "Actually...would you mind if I asked a few questions? I'm rather new to all of this."

"Ask and I shall answer to the best of my knowledge." The man replied.

"Alright, first of all...you seemed to know I was coming?"

Jefferson nodded, "Your predecessor had been looking a bit down lately, I recognized the signs that he was thinking of moving on. I do not believe he intentionally allowed you to take his office, but I would not put it past his subconscious to have been looking for a way out. I did not know for certain that you were coming, but it was not a surprise."

Harry pondered that for a moment, "And you just...let me take his place? New boss same as the old?"

"Those who serve the Incarnations are normally souls doomed to Purgatory to work off the evil on their souls in order to move on to Heaven. I have served Thanatos for many years now, I serve the office, not the office holder."

"That's the second time someone has mentioned souls serving in Purgatory, are there many of you?"

The man nodded again, "There is a bit of a queue at the Central Administration Building, many souls wait there in perpetual boredom for a chance to serve. Those with an organization or administrative background tend to serve in those capacities. I serve in death as I did in life."

The mention of the Central Office reminded Harry of the souls in his belt pouch. "I'm going to need to drop off a few things there...can you tell me how to find the place?"

"Things in Purgatory tend to be relative distances from one another, if you need to go there it will be whichever direction you decide to travel when you leave this house."

Harry took a few spoon fulls of his soup, "This is really good!"

"Thank you sir, a recipe I acquired in life. The Queen was quite fond of it."

"Queen Elizabeth?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Queen Anne actually, I was in queue for quite some time."

"Oh...well it is still quite good, I'm honored to have the Queens Butler serve me."

"As you say sir."

Harry took another bite of his sandwich as he though of other questions to ask, "Did the old Thanatos spend much time here? You say we don't really need to sleep, I assume we really don't need to eat either."

"Lord Zane spent most of his off hours with the Lady Luna at her home in the mortal realm. You are correct to assume that you do not really need to eat as an Incarnation. Most of the human body functions are suspended once you assume office. However as I said, many prefer to 'go through the motions' as it were."

"So if I needed to, I could work around the clock...a blessing and a curse I suppose." Harry didn't wait for an answer as it wasn't really a question. "Right then...um... So, I'm the Grim Reaper..."

"Technically sir, you are Death itself, Grim Reapers work for you as an extension of your Will."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that, "You mean there are people out there waving scythes and taking souls?"

"Not for many centuries as I understand it sir, they would be more like plain clothes police officers now. If you would like I am sure the Central Computer could provide you with more information."

Harry pulled a face at that, "I really don't like that thing...it's annoying and impersonal. Do I have a secretary or something? I'm guessing the Computer can't do the scheduling all on it's own or there wouldn't be much need for souls working in administrative roles at the Central Office?"

"Correct sir, there is an Office of Death at the Central Building. I believe the assistant you are thinking of is named Cynthia. She is the one that placed me in the role I now serve."

Looking down he realized he had eaten everything on his plate and glanced at his watch, 'Morning' when he was supposed to meet the other Incarnations was still at least three hours away. He decided he should stop by the Central Building and drop off the souls he had already collected and possibly drop by his own Office.

"Thank you Jefferson, I think I'll head out early. Where is my...costume?"

"Your articles of office are freshly cleaned and hanging by the front door sir. If that will be all?"

Standing up he nodded to the butler and walked through the other opening from the Dining Room into the hallway and found his things just as Jefferson had described them. He quickly got dressed and pulled his hood up before leaving to learn more about the world he had stepped into.

He saw Mortis munching on clover not far away from the front door and waved, the horse twitched an ear in his direction but didn't stop his activity. Turning to his left he began walking, following Jefferson's instructions to simply decide he needed to be at the Central office. Just as his home faded into the mist he saw a large building begin to appear in front of him and walked up the stairs and inside.

The lobby was done in white marble with gold veins running through it, not brown colored marble but actual gold. It matched the gold on the statues and fixtures around the room, walking toward a desk near the foot of the stairs he found a bored looking woman answering phones.

"Central Office, hold please. Central Office, hold please. Yes? May I help you?" She said as she noticed his approach.

"Yes...I'm looking for my office?"

"Up the stairs to to the left, first door on the right is the Office of Death. Central Office, hold please." She went back to answering her phones and ignored him.

He followed the directions and found a plain looking door with the name "Office of Death" stenciled in gold leaf on opaque glass. He turned the nob and walked in to find a rather large waiting room with a receptionist looking rather put out as she explained to a very pale man in a black and white pinstriped suit that it was not yet his turn. "NOW SERVING #61" She yelled over the mans shoulder.

"Look doll, don't you know who I am? The Ghost with the Most, the Dean of the Damned, the..."

"Sir, if you do not get back in line I'm afraid you will have to move to the back of the queue. Again!"

The man turned around mumbling only to have his tongue and eyes shoot out of his face comically before hanging near his chin. "Damn bub, do you have to sneak up on a brother like that? I thought I was scary but that is quite the getup!"

The receptionists eyes bugged out and she stood up suddenly, smiling. "Lord Thanatos! What an honor! What can I do for you today?"

The ghostly looking man had just finished shoving his eyeballs back into his head when he grinned sickeningly. "Thanatos! Just the man I wanted to see!" he leaned in conspiratorially, "Now just between you and me, this place could really use a bit of reorganization. I've been sitting in this stupid lobby for going on 20 years now!"

"And you will be here another 20 unless you SIT. DOWN!"

He turned to her, "Listen babe, men are talking here..." he turned back and eyeballed the specter of Death, "You are a man right?"

Harry nodded, not saying anything.

"Right, so how about you go ahead and use your position to help me out? Bump me up to the top of the list? Between you and me I had a sweet deal going on in Hell but I had to go and help this girl out and balance my soul a little too far to the middle, you know? I figure as long as I'm here I can get a hall pass to go back down to the mortals and raise a little Cain, or cane a little mortal, haven't been laid in years! I'm sure you know all about that though...are you all bones under that getup or can you still get it up?"

Harry was trying hard not to laugh, he liked this guy for some reason, however one look at the receptionist told him he had better not give out any favors like the guy was asking. He simply pointed back at an empty seat and stared at him.

"Really? Just like that? You didn't even get my name!"

"Now listen here Mr Beetlejuice..."

"That's once! Come on hotcakes, say it again?"

"Mr Beetlejuice so help me..."

"Alright, that's twice!"

The girl seemed to know what he was asking for and smiled evilly, "Mr Beetleguy, I'll need you sit down. NOW. Or it will be 40 YEARS before I call your name again!"

The man turned from her mumbling about the unfairness of it all, Harry thought he might have flipped him the bird but wasn't sure as his attention was back on the receptionist. "I'm looking for Cynthia?" he said quietly.

"Of course sir! Right this way!"

She led him down the hall to a large office, smiling the whole way, before knocking on the open door. "Cindy, there is someone here to see you."

"I'm busy right now Melinda, put him on the waiting list."

"Cindy you don't understand...its Him."

The woman looked up from her paperwork, "Him. Who?"

Harry walked into the office and Cindy's eyes widened before she stood, "OH! Him! Good..." She checked the clock on the wall, "..morning sir! I'd heard you had replaced Zane and I hoped you'd stop by. That will be all Melinda."

The girl was staring at him adoringly...a bit creepily to be honest, she reminded Harry of the fan girls that used to play with Harry Potter dolls...into their twenties. "MELINDA!"

"Of course! Have a nice day!" She said to him with a wink.

Cindy walked around the desk and offered him her hand which he took...marveling again that he could feel her warm hand through the bone of his gloves. "Please don't mind Melinda...she's been hoping to score a better job with you since she started working here, unfortunately for her Zane only had eyes for Luna."

Harry raised an eyebrow...before realizing she couldn't see and put his hood down, "There are positions like that?" he asked incredulously.

She offered him a chair, which he took and she sat in another near him, "The souls of Purgatory serve the needs of the Incarnations...whatever those needs are. Zane's predecessor had three concubines, all of whom happily moved on to heaven after he lost his office. Now, what can I do for you today Master Thanatos?"

"Call me Harry, please. At least when we are alone."

She smiled, "Of course Harry, so what can I do for you?"

He thought about that for a moment, "I'm not sure really, I just wanted to look around and get a feel for what goes on here. I know my 'Will' takes care of a lot of Death related tasks but I don't like leading an organization I don't really understand."

"Well let me see if I can explain it to you a bit better, shall I?" he nodded eagerly, "Simply by existing, by holding your office, you allow death to claim those who are ready to pass on. You are what is known as a Major Incarnation, there are several minor incarnations that serve your office. Plague, Pestilence, Famine, they all fall mostly under your purview. Though to some extent they also serve Mother Nature and War as the situation warrants. Your will is sufficient to take non-sentient creatures and other forms of life like plants and what have you, for human souls there are the Grim Reapers."

"I'd like to know more about the Reapers, I heard they are more like Plain Clothes officers than cloaked specters wielding scythes."

She nodded, "They are, though we still issue them the uniforms if they want them. Mostly that depends on the local management. Every population center has a collection of Reapers who do the day to day work of releasing the spirit from the body, hopefully before they die or just after, so that the soul can float up to heaven or sink to Hell on it's own."

"And you...I hear you are the one in charge of my schedule? How does that work when I pause things?" he asked.

"Well, its a bit mysterious, but with help from Chronos you are allowed to pause time and move through space without missing an appointment. If you put off your appointments for too long it will cause a backlog and I'd really rather not deal with that. However as part of your will there are creatures known as Gravelings which cause the deaths that are not natural causes. When you pause your schedule the Gravelings sense that they have to hold off on causing any mishaps for the target. They get cranky if they aren't allowed to do their jobs though and sometimes will cause minor catastrophe's once the clock starts again, taking several souls along with the target simply because they can. Fate does not appreciate having threads cut short without notice, so I hope you won't go more than a day here and there between reaping. I get an earful when the Gravelings act out."

"Why wouldn't she just yell at me for it? It obviously is not your fault if I don't follow the schedule!"

She smiled at him, "Nice of you to say so Harry, but in the end whether someone dies or not is your call and while the other Incarnations may...influence you... they really can't do much. It is in everyone's best interest for the Major Incarnations to get along. So they yell at me and I do my best to reorganize everything."

"Well then...as much as I hate taking lives...I'll try my best to keep you out of trouble," he said sheepishly.

"Thank you, now I know you only just took the job but you only took two souls yesterday. My schedule normally calls for at least five per day. There are surprisingly not all that many souls close enough to balance to need your direct intervention. All I ask is that you try to maintain a five per day quota so I don't get a backlog."

He nodded, "I'll get to it then, I can take a soul or two before I have to meet Fate and Gaea later... I do have a question though... would it be odd for me to drop in on a group of Reapers just to see how they go about their business?"

Cindy looked pensive, "It would definitely be...unusual...but I know an unusual group that might welcome you. I can send a note to their manager letting him know you are stopping by if you like. They are probably just as interested in how things work higher up the chain as you are about the lower."

"That would be great! Can you owl...er..."

She laughed, "We don't really do Owls around here Harry, but I can send you a text message."

"I don't have a phone..." he began.

"We can take care of that if you like, or I can send it to the terminal in Mortis."

He nodded, "Why don't you send it through Mortis then, I'm not sure about having a mobile just yet. I made it through my whole life without one, not sure why I need to start carrying one now."

She shook her head, "I have been working this job for nearly 200 years now and I have no clue how I ever managed without one before ten years ago!"

"200 years! Why haven't you moved on yet?" he asked in surprise.

"I worked off my debt long ago, but the longer I work here the higher up in Heaven I get to go. Most souls only work long enough to get out of this place, but from what I hear the lower levels of Heaven really aren't all that much fun. Just a lot of standing around and 'enjoying being in the Lords presence' stuff. Honestly I'm not sure the highest bits of Hell wouldn't be more entertaining, not that I'm itching to find out."

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Harry risked trying to apparate from Cindy's office rather than face that Beetleguy again, no matter how much he liked him. Luckily for him, either his status as an Incarnation meant he could move through the wards, or there were no wards in place. Most likely the latter, as a bunch of lost souls really weren't going anywhere and nobody should need to be kept out. He reappeared outside his front door with almost no noise, which he found amusing considering he had never really learned to apparate correctly, mostly picking it up on his own along the way. The result being he sounded like a bus backfiring during apparation in his old life.

Mortis raised an ear toward him and Harry turned that direction, "Alright boy, ready to get going? Cindy does not seem to be someone I should piss off, we've got at least five souls to pick up today."

As he was saying this he climbed into the saddle, noticing for the first time a folded weapon sticking up from a sheath on his right side. He pulled the odd curved handle from its home and whistled through his teeth at the blade on the end. He instinctively flicked his wrist and the blade snapped into place, leaving him holding five foot of curved wooden handle, with a three foot long scythe on the end looking more than a little ominous.

"Wizard." Harry said with a grin, before chuckling at himself.

He decided to play the part to the best of his abilities this time, he'd been rather embarrassed by Marvin after all. It wasn't HIS fault he was a trainee!

"Alright Mortis, lets head to the first appointment."

It was lucky for Harry that the magic of the saddle held him in place, because Mortis jumped into the air and down through the ground at sickening speeds. Harry gripped the scythe in one hand and the reigns in the other, whooping in joy the entire way down to the planet below.

As they landed in what seemed to be the west coast of the US, Harry remembered to press the button on his watch to restart his schedule. He checked the compass as Mortis began trotting down one of the main streets through town. It was now late night in this part of the world but he could see everything as if it were in perpetual twilight, possibly one of the benefits of being associated with Death. They stopped outside of a church and Mortis began grazing as Harry slipped from the saddle. There wasn't a soul around (he smiled at his unintended pun) so he began following the needle towards his destination.

It led him underground through a cave opening he wouldn't have known was there and down into a subterranean system of caverns and passageways. He made three turns and was completely lost, glad he could either apparate out or call Mortis for assistance, before he came upon a girl laying in a pool of water.

From what he could tell she was a pretty and petite blond cheerleader type. He sighed as he bent over her, "Hello there whoever you are, it looks like you must have drowned yourself down here. I wonder if it was an accident?"

He tried to find a pulse and as he was moving her hair, found the distinct fang marks of a vampire. "Oh..I'm very sorry miss, it looks like they drained you too far to turn you, or maybe not enough and you drowned on accident?" He checked his watch. "You have about two minutes left, but if you like I can go ahead and take you, that way you don' t have to suffer."

Yes, he realized he was talking to himself, but really, the girl seemed to him to be an innocent and he couldn't imagine what it was that was so dark about her that she was in balance. Then again he remembered the little girl with the broken neck who was carrying the burden of a sin she didn't even commit. He sighed and reached toward her only to be interrupted by two young men rushing into the room.

The younger one immediately rushed to the girl and pulled her from the water and onto her back as Harry watched. The older one...was staring at Harry with wide eyes. It only took a few seconds of observation for him to realize that the older man was a vampire, when you deal with them as spies for Voldemort you get a sense for them, this one seemed to be friendly though so Harry didn't jump to conclusions, he simply nodded to the vampire and looked back at the girl, glancing once at his watch to see that she had about a minute left until her appointment.

The younger man began CPR and Harry wished he could just let him know that it was pointless. But part of him hoped that his schedule could be wrong, that maybe this girl could be saved. Suddenly as his watch beeped an alarm at him, the girl on the floor spat up water and began coughing. Harry wanted to cheer!

"Buffy!" Both men shouted and the vampire ignored him as he went to the girl, Harry decided this was a good time to make his exit and quickly apparated silently back to Mortis.

The horse raised his head and eyeballed Harry, "What?" Harry asked him. "Looks like it wasn't her time after all." Mortis continued to stare at him, "Fine! I'll check with Cindy when we get back just to make sure the girl wasn't meant to die alright? It isn't like I saved her, or refused to take her or anything. She was gone, then she came back right as her appointment came due. Not. My. Fault."

Mortis whinnied and shook himself and Harry took that as his agreement not to bring it up again. While riding him was fun, Harry decided the pale horse was just a bit conspicuous for him. Normally he might not have cared but with vampires around, who could apparently see him, he decided it was best to be incognito. So he pressed the button on the saddle which turned him into the Cadillac and climbed inside. "Alright then Mortis, I guess we head for the next one before meeting up with Gaea and Fate."

The car shot off into the night and Harry pondered once again, everything he'd learned and everything that had happened to him in the last day and a half. The biggest being that he was going to see Luna again! Perhaps he should have been more surprised when they asked him to help gain her agreement to be an Incarnation, but with all the other wonky stuff that was happening it had barely occurred to him that she was dead. In fact, it didn't really surprise him at all that they could meet with the dead now that he was the Incarnation of Death. He wondered idly whether Luna was in Purgatory or Heaven, he couldn't believe she might have ended up in Hell.

Those thoughts led him to realize that he could see ALL of his friends again...and his family! Hermione, Ron, Sirius...his mom and dad...Remus and Tonks... Suddenly he was crying and very glad that he'd chosen to ride inside of Mortis rather than on top. He wiped the tears away with his cold bone fingers and took a deep breath. One more stop for a soul, then off to see Luna for the first time since she died, and then he'd find everyone else.

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Later, as Mortis galloped down to the Plains of Purgatory Harry noticed the two women waiting for him outside his home, they smiled as he dismounted and scratched Mortis behind the ears.

"Hello Harry," Orb said brightly as her mother smiled, "Are you ready to help us convince Luna?"

Harry grinned at that, "I am! I can't believe I've been here for two days and hadn't realized I could go meet my family and friends who already passed over. I can't wait to go!"

The women exchanged odd looks before Niobi spoke, "Harry...why do you think Luna is dead?"

Harry's eyes, if they could have seen them, widened comically, "What do you mean, 'Why do I think she is dead'? She died a while back when her house came crashing down."

Orb shook her head, "No Harry...she is in the long term ward at St Mungo's...who told you she had passed over?"

Harry's face closed up as he grabbed hold of his temper, "Dumbledore told all of us there were no survivors..." he sighed, "just another in a long line of his manipulations I guess. Couldn't have me distracted from being his weapon..."

Fate seemed to look up and to the right for a moment, having some sort of internal battle before Lachesis shifted and became Clotho, the girl stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him unexpectedly to comfort him. "I am so sorry Fate could not help you Harry," She pulled back, blushing, but did not let him go. He felt..oddly comfortable with the girl, "something tells me that man did not go to Heaven though I doubt he is in Hell. Perhaps when you get a chance you should look him up and give him a telling off?"

Harry nodded and smiled at her...not realizing how scary that was, "Thank you Clotho, I may just do that..." He took a breath and let her go, "So does that mean I can't find my parents? ...Hermione?"

For some reason Orb winced at Hermione's name, Clotho picked up the conversation through, "Of course you can go see your family Harry, as an Incarnation you can visit both Heaven and Hell if you wish, beware though, in either realm you are at the complete mercy of God and Pyra respectively."

Orb had moved past whatever caused her to stop, "And I assure you, my daughter won't cause you any trouble unless you deserve it."

"That's right!" Harry said, suddenly remembering. "So your daughter is the Incarnation of Good...but how does that work...having a um..." he got uncomfortable with the question, "Being the daughter of Satan and all?"

Orb laughed musically, "Oh Harry, you forget just how long our lives are and just how tangled the relationships of our family can be. Orlene is not Satan's daughter, she is the daughter of my first lover Mym. Also known as Mars, the Incarnation of War."

Harry's head was spinning, "Forgive me for saying this, but your family tree is more twisted than most Pureblood Wizards I know."

She laughed again and Clotho smiled at him sweetly, "Twisted and Kinkier than you imagine Harry." She said with a shy smile before stepping back and morphing into Lachesis again.

"Right then Harry, we can discuss my family and go see yours right after we convince Luna to join us." Fate said to him, suddenly all business.

"If you two will hold on to my sleeve I'll take us to her." Orb offered.

Harry did so but asked her a question, "Won't it be a bit odd, the three of us, especially ME," He said stressing what he meant by gesturing to himself in full Death regalia, "Just popping into a hospital? Besides, I can apparate to St Mungo's."

Orb grinned, "Oh but you don't want to miss this Harry, and don't worry about your outfit. Only those with business with you will see you."

With that she reached out and seemed to grab hold of the air and peel it up, as Harry watched it was like the page of a book turned and suddenly they were standing at the end of a bed in the St Mungo's long term care ward. Harry looked at the pillow and found the sleeping form of Luna Lovegood. "Luna..." he whispered softly.

Orb stepped to the other side of the bed as Harry went up to her right side, she touched Luna on the forehead and the girl opened her large blue eyes and blinked first at the smiling woman and turned to the robed Skeletal form of Death and stared at him for a long moment.

"Hello Harry."

He hid his surprise well, he'd long ago learned to just go with it. Luna saw the world in a completely different way that anyone else he knew, "Hello Luna."

"You know you really should eat more, you're nothing but bones."

He laughed and pushed back his hood before leaning down and kissing her on the forehead. "I'm so sorry I haven't been to visit before Luna, I only just found out you didn't die when your house..." He suddenly realized this might be a touchy subject.

She nodded, "Yes, I was sorry Daddy had to pass on, but I knew I'd see him sooner rather than later. It is a shame I had to wait here for so long though, I had such awful dreams."

A polite cough from the end of the bed drew both of their attention and Harry remembered his manners, "Luna, I would like to introduce you to two...fou..." He thought about it for a second and decided to keep it simple, "two very special women. This," he said indicating the woman on the other side of the bed, "Is Mother Nature."

"How do you do Lady Gaea?" Luna said dipping her head.

Orb giggled and a plant on the other side of the room grew several inches and its flowers bloomed, "Hello Luna, please call me Orb."

Luna nodded and looked at the foot of her bed, "And this," Harry said continuing the introductions, "is Fate."

The girl eyeballed the older woman for a few moments, "Many people have said you were not kind to Harry, but that isn't true. You did all you could for him or he would likely not have lived as long as he did. Thank you."

Lachesis grinned at the girl, "Luna, we have come today with a proposition. I'm afraid that your time has nearly come to an end, in two days time I'm afraid I am going to have to cut your thread."

Harry panicked, "You didn't tell me that! We can't let her die when we just brought her back!" He thought about it for a second and remembered who he was now, "I refuse to allow it!"

Lachesis winced a bit before the smile returned to her face, Luna was patting Harry's arm consolingly, "Harry it is okay, we all have our time on this plane and then we move on. I would get to be with Mummy and Daddy again."

"But you don't have to, we've come to offer you a choice." Orb said.

Niobi continued, "We would like you to become one of the aspects of Fate, I am the middle aspect known as Lachesis, I weave the tapestry of Life," She shifted to the old black woman, "I am Atropos, I measure and cut the threads of Life," She shifted once more and Clotho was before them, "And I am Clotho, I spin the thread of life. It is my office which we are here to offer you. I recently lost someone I dearly loved as an Incarnation and it reminds me that I have a full life ahead of me to live. I want to have children and grow older, I cannot do that as an Incarnation. I've come to offer you the chance to take my place rather than have your thread cut."

Luna seemed to contemplate for a few moments before speaking, "That would be lovely, I accept."

Clotho raised an eyebrow. "You do? Just like that? I know it took more than an offer to convince me."

Luna shrugged, "I would love to learn about how Fate works, plus I assume I get to spend plenty of time with Mother Nature this way, you are Lachesis' daughter are you not?"

Orb's eyes widened, "How did you know?"

Luna shrugged again, "Perhaps its a family resemblance, perhaps I just know. Sometimes I don't really know how I know, you know? I just do."

Harry, Clotho and even Orb had to blink at that rationalization before Clotho walked up next to Harry and shyly put her hands on his chest. "Harry...I know you don't understand...but may I ask you for a favor before I return to being a mortal?"

Harry was feeling uncomfortable and fidgety with her so close, but figured he had nothing to lose, "If it is within my power." He said softly.

She smiled up at him and moved her hands behind his neck to hug him, before he realized what was happening she had pulled his lips down to hers and was kissing him passionately. Harry was stiff at first but eventually he gave up and leaned into her. It was very nice until he had a flashback to his fifth year, he could taste the girls tears and feel her shuddering in his arms. It was Cho Chang all over again. The girl pulled back hiccuping and smiled up at him sadly. "Thank you Harry, you can't know how much that meant to me."

He just looked at her dumbly for a few seconds, "Um...any time?"

She smiled and took Luna's hand, "Alright Luna, this is going to feel a bit odd."

There was a strange watery shifting of both girls before Luna was standing in front of Harry and Clotho was on the bed in front of them in a hospital gown. "Oh my..." The girl exclaimed, "I'd forgotten how strange that was...and I'm still tingling..."

"That would be Luna's magic, you are a witch now Clotho, I tweaked your turnover just a bit to let her magic and knowledge of it stay with you. Luna still has hers as well but I thought I could leave you a parting gift." Orb said softly.

"Thank you Orb!" Clotho said getting out of bed and hugging the woman. Harry blushed and looked away as the girl he had just been kissing had nothing on under her gown and had a very nice derriere showing.

Before he could resist he felt arms snake behind his head and suddenly he was kissing Luna rather passionately just as he had the other girl only moments ago. He didn't lean into this one though, it just felt awkward, Luna stopped and stepped back from him. "Oh, that was very nice. I always wanted to do that Harry I hope you don't mind. But it's not time to do that with you yet, I'm sorry for taking advantage."

"Um...no problem Luna...just a little warning next time?" Harry said in confusion.

She nodded and shifted back into Lachesis who smiled at him, "Thank you for your help Harry, if I am not mistaken you wanted to go visit your family?"

He suddenly grinned, "I can still do that?"

Orb matched his grin, "You can, I wanted to go see my daughter today so I'll show you the way."

Lachesis nodded, "And we have a bit of training to do for our new Clotho, I promise we'll stop by so you can visit with Luna in a few days or so." With that Fate shifted to spider form and climbed a web into the ceiling and disappeared.

Orb just shook her head at her mothers departure, "I think mother doesn't know what she's gotten herself into with that one. Now Harry, if you'll grab my arm I'll take us back to the Central Office Building."

Not knowing what else to do Harry pulled his hood up and grasped her arm lightly, "As you with my Lady."

A/N: I said before that based on reviews I'd decide what to write, reviews are like crack for my muse, but make sure they are fun to read reviews that spark my imagination. Otherwise I still appreciate all of the "great chapter please continue" reviews as well.

That said, It isn't fair to use JUST review counts, quality counts yes, but also having 10k words and 5 chapters in one story, but only 5k words and 3 chapters on another just doesn't make it fair (more reviews per chapter) So I have a bit of an averaging system based on reviews per wordcount...

In any case, both this and another story got an update today, now if I can only figure out where I was going with Hogwarts Shuffle! Maybe it will get an update as well.

Til next time, Cheers!

GML