Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Ex Solem In Umbra

Previously:

His friends' loyalty was admirable. But this was his own problem. He didn't want to ruin the lives of his friends. Not when they were this happy.

He was going to leave during their honeymoon, so they would not need to hear of his conversation with Death or what his task was. Not until several years have passed and they realized that there was nothing they could do to help.

As he watched a glowing Hermione giggle at something Ron whispered in her ear on the dance floor, Harry could not help feeling a stab of sorrow at being unable to watch the couple as they came together to share life's burdens.

He silently raised a glass to them, toasting them to a life of happiness.

Chapter 5: Ex Solem In Umbra

(Posted 2014-12-16, Updated 2015-07-03)

After sending off the happily married newlyweds on their honeymoon, Harry helped out with the clean up, clearing the area of the chairs and packing away the numerous foodstuffs leftover.

As he was packing away a particularly big half-eaten cake that had graced the centerpiece of the wedding, a small bundle crashed into him from behind, almost sending the older man falling to the ground.

"Nucle Harry!"

Harry grabbed a hold of his godson, the almost five-year-old metamorphmagus with electric-blue hair, who was hanging onto his middle like a limpet. The older wizard swung his giggling godson around in a bear hug. "Hey Teddy. Ahh, you've gotten bigger, and I've only seen you last week!"

Teddy gave a whoop of glee when his godfather gave him another swing around. As soon as the older wizard placed his godson down, the blue-haired boy immediately tackled the older man, to which Harry retaliated by tickling him.

An amused-sounding woman's voice sounded from nearby, bringing the two playful males to a sudden stop. "Teddy, Harry, get out of those robes before you go rough-housing!"

Harry paused in his tickling, and Teddy sat up from his curled up position from the ground, both yelling out to the older woman who was vanishing the decorations in a tree.

"Okay, Grandma!" "Yes, Andromeda!"

The godson and godfather pair shared a secret look and fell laughing on the grass.

When the moment of hilarity had faded, Harry gave his godson a tight hug. He pulled the boy up until he was face to face and gave him an eskimo kiss. "Teddy, what do you say about visiting your parents and Granddad and my parents later, maybe in a few days? I'm sure they would love to hear all about you being the ring bearer today."

Teddy whispered, "Really? Can we take a picnic and go to the fields behind Godric's Hollow afterwards?"

"Of course, Teddy. Why don't we take your toy broom along too, and have a little game with me?"

"Can we?"

"Run along and ask your Grandmother when is a good time for her. The three of us will go and visit."

"Okay!"

{(TFM)}

~Few Days Later~

(-Several Hours Ante Finem-)

That morning, Harry couldn't get rid of the small niggling apprehension for the day's events that had begun the moment he got out of bed. He tried to shake it off with the thought of spending a pleasant day with his godson, but by the time he met Andromeda and Teddy, he still couldn't dampen the spark of foreboding. However, he put it aside from his thoughts and focused on listening to his godson babble about some gnomes that had sneaked into their gardens.

Remaining silent as they apparated to a small copse just outside Godric's Hollow and walking to the church graveyard together, he only spoke when Andromeda gave him a curious glance. As soon as Teddy had gone slightly ahead to explore a strange-looking plant by the roadside, Andromeda asked her ward's godfather a cordial question.

"Are you alright, Harry? You're not looking so well today."

Harry smoothed out some creases in between his eyebrows.

"It's nothing, Andromeda. It's just that ever since I've woken up this morning I can't shake this feeling that something is going happen," He sighed. "It's probably just waking up from the wrong side of the bed or something."

"Hmm. I see... nothing else, then?"

She was sharp as always, seeing through the mask he had carefully molded on. Harry dropped the reassuring expression, his face morphing into a more grim one.

"...Well, you could say I'm preparing for a long-ish trip, and I'm not really looking forward for it."

"Oh? Where are you going?"

"I can't exactly say; nothing's definite. Possibly all around the world, depending on the information I find."

"...How long?"

"Probably a few years, possibly more. The problem is, I don't think I can contact anyone for the time I'm away." He sighed again. "...I am not liking that aspect very much, and I doubt Teddy will, either..."

"You can't come visit?"

He spent a few moments deliberating on telling her the truth. When he decided that she, as a more experienced person, would understand his reasons and give good advice, the younger wizard started to speak, but was interrupted.

"I could, but – "

"Nucle Harry! Grandma 'Dromeda!"

Teddy exuberantly babbled about a chipmunk, unaware that he had interrupted a conversation. Harry gave a glance back at his godson's grandmother, conveying wordlessly that he would privately tell her later when their charge was more distracted. The look from Andromeda let him know that his promise would be remembered.

The rest of the walk to the graveyard was spent with Teddy giving a detailed account of how the chipmunk had come down from a tree to chatter at him, how he'd approached it and watched it groom itself a bit before it scurried off into the trees again.

The adults shared an amused look over Teddy's head as he chattered on, knowing from the constant flickering colors of the four- almost five-year-old's hair that he was very excited and happy.

But soon, they reached the graveyard, and Teddy became more subdued and quiet, knowing the solemnity of the cemetary.

The three reached the gravestones of Remus and Nymphadora first; Teddy knelt on the grass, wiping away the collected dirt on their gravestones. After sharing another look with Harry, Andromeda quietly walked away towards her husband's stone a few rows down, leaving the two behind.

As Harry watched his godson slowly brush away the dust that had collected on the top of the stone, his eyes flickering down towards the words on it. Hermione had remembered a famous muggle war epitaph after Harry had told her of Remus's last words; everyone who heard the poem afterwards all agreed that it was fitting.

Remus Lupin (10 March, 1960 - 2 May, 1998)

Nymphadora Lupin (3 August, 1973 - 2 May, 1998)

When you go home

Tell them of us, and say

For their tomorrow

We gave our today

Harry conjured a bouquet of irises and carefully handed it to his godson, who wordlessly took it and placed it gently in front of his parent's gravestones.

The older man gently spoke to his godson. "Ted? Want a little time alone?"

The almost-five-year-old nodded, slowly tracing the letters of the epitaph that he knew by heart, but only just began reading for himself.

"I'm going to be over there with my parents, alright?" Harry carefully asked.

Teddy nodded again, fiddling with the arrangement of the purple blossoms.

After a long look at the small figure sitting quietly in front of Remus' and Tonks' grave, Harry trudged over to his own parents' grave. He was about to conjure his own bouquet of flowers when he noticed the small rhododendron bush that was blooming very near the gravestone.

He crouched down and pulled away the weeds that were choking the bush up, smiling cheerfully and grumbling to the gravestone.

"Very funny, Dad. Setting up flowers and telling me I need to work on my transfiguration skills?" The twenty-two year-old gave a huff of amusement. "I know those irises back there were a little droopy, but it was better than nothing. Besides, it's Remus and Tonks. They'd appreciate it."

He brushed off the dirt from his parents' headstone, then stepped back to see his handiwork. With a sigh, Harry swept a hand across the stone, searching for invisible motes of dust.

"Mum... Dad... Am I doing right? Is it the right choice to leave to find something that might not exist?" He sat back on his heels. "There is the choice of living out my life until everyone I know... well, dies."

Sweeping a hand through his messy, untamed hair, he muttered. "...I'm starting to get serious doubts of the whole 'trip'. Is there really only these two options?"

Harry looked back to where Teddy and Andromeda was, both cleaning the headstones of their loved ones.

"Usually, when facing something impossible-sounding, the general advice would be to divide the burden and ask for help..." He frustratedly turned back to the grave. "Dividing a burden... I can't do that – I would be asking my friends to tear out what stability they have created for themselves, what peace they finally get to enjoy, for... for this."

A beat of silence, then Harry huffed a humorless laugh. "Ha. I don't ask for help often, but the one time I really need the help, no one, not even Death, can do anything about it."

Harry started clearing up the dead leaves and cutting away the overgrown grass from the area around the grave as he thought aloud.

"I suppose the main issue is whether or not to trust what Death told me." He pulled harder at a stubborn field grass that refused to be cut. "But Death... from what I felt that night, he was full of authority and power. He – well, not exactly sure if it was a he or she – he was definitely not human. His very presence was proof of that."

He vanished the defeated plant and started evening out the small hole from the weed's roots. "Would a being like him lie? I doubt it, but suppose if he did... could he be lying, or hiding some other detail from me? Would he?"

He looked up at the sky. It was a nice day, the sun shining brightly in a blue sky dotted with drifting white clouds. "Not that I'm important or powerful enough for Death to tiptoe around me." Harry snorted. "And I don't exactly have a choice but to trust him, so there isn't much I can do about it."

He stood up, brushing away the dirt from his hands.

"Well, Mum, Dad, I probably wouldn't be able to visit much with all the traveling I'll be doing." His mouth turned up into a small smile. "Researching destructive methods in destroying a magical artifact... doesn't sound too hard."

The young man looked down at the gravestone once again, green eyes scanning over his parents' names again. "So. I suppose this is goodbye for now, then. I'll come by again, I promise. Thanks for watching over me."

He hesitated, then with a bitter smile, said, "I... I really hope I see you sooner, rather than later. Love you both." Harry turned away from the grave, giving a small caress to one of the rhododendron flowers. He then walked to help his godson, who was struggling to uproot a stubborn weed.

{(TFM)}

(-Ostentum-)

The following short walk to the fields nearby was low-key, with all three each in his and her own thoughts. This silent pensive atmosphere would have continued if Teddy hadn't become distracted by something off to the side of the road, in the trees of the forest line.

The little lightning-blue-haired boy pointed, whispering excitedly. "Nucle Harry! Grandma! Look!" When they obliged their little charge, they were shocked to find that a stag was watching them, frozen in its position.

At the slight exclamation from Andromeda, the stag jumped away into the woods, antlers disappearing among the branches. Teddy looked disappointed at the stag's short stay, but tugged excitedly at his godfather.

"It was Prongs!"

Harry gave his godson an answering bright smile.

"You're probably right, Teddy." He fondly patted the electric-blue hair, looking back at the way the stag had gone. "I'm pretty sure that was Prongs' way of seeing us off."

{(TFM)}

(-20 Minutes Ante Finem-)

When they reached the clearing that served as the magical equivalent of the muggle park, Teddy's sights were immediately on the set of magical swings in the corner. The park was quiet and empty of all visitors except the three.

Before the blue-haired boy could race off, Andromeda detained her ward.

"Theodore Remus Lupin, stay right where you are. The swings are not going anywhere; you can go play after you finish your food."

The young Metamorphmagus' face fell, but at Harry's wink and whispered promise of flying later, the boy quickly obliged his grandmother.

{(TFM)}

(-Via Ad Inferum-)

Harry didn't have a chance to react to the full body-bind spell that hit him from behind – before Andromeda could react with her own wand, she was also under the full body-bind.

Teddy had not noticed yet, chasing a butterfly on his toy broom a short distance away; the cloaked man ignored the boy as he rummaged through Harry's clothes and pockets, all the while muttering, 'Where is it, where is it?'

Harry fruitlessly struggled against the magical restraints, trying to do everything he could to get free. He would have succeeded in a few more seconds with brute force, when the man found his holly and phoenix feather wand, and after examining it for a few seconds before throwing it a few feet away with a growl and conjured up magical ropes to wrap around the twenty-two year old.

The unknown assailant then undid the body-bind charm on Harry and pointing his wand at his face, demanded, "Where is it?"

By this time, Teddy had noticed that his godfather and grandmother was at the unknown man's mercy – he immediately headed for them, shouting in alarm. "Harry! Grandma!"

"Teddy, no! Get away!" Harry silently willed him to go and get help, but the child immediately headed towards the them, uncaring of the danger – just like his Gryffindor father.

The little boy slammed into the cloaked man in an attempt to save his family, but the man easily threw the four-year-old child far away, Teddy landing head-first quite a distance away.

Harry couldn't help the involuntary cry of worry for his godson. "Teddy!"

A low, growly voice brought his attention back to the wand pointed into his face threateningly.

"Where is it."

Harry glared back at his attacker. "What do you want."

The man's frown deepened. "Where is the wand."

At this, Harry firmly closed his mouth, knowing that the man was after the elder wand.

When there was no sign of his prisoner breaking his silence, the man pointed his wand towards the electric-blue-haired boy who was slowly getting up, still dazed from his fall. "I said, where is the wand."

Teddy looked up and froze when he saw that the wand was pointed at himself and fearfully made eye-contact with his godfather, not knowing what to do. "Uncle Harry...?"

Harry tried to get the attacker to stop pointing his wand at his son, trying to get his attention away from the blue-haired boy. "I don't know where it is! Be very still Teddy. Don't mov –" He grunted as he was lifted by the collar of his shirt.

The man – sharp eyebrows, crooked nose, scruffy unshaven jawline, gray eyes – shook him roughly by the collar. "The wand. Where is it?"

Harry shook his head, choking out, "...It's not here! Please, Teddy and Andromeda have nothing to do with this –"

The man threw him down onto the ground a few feet away and approached Teddy, pointing his wand at the child. After a brief pause while he deliberated something and waited for Harry's attention to come back to him, he turned his wand toward the still-frozen Andromeda instead, and shout, "Crucio!"

Andromeda twitched and silently screamed as her body tried to break free from the body-bind in response to the unforgivable curse.

Harry was appalled by the sudden change of targets and could not help but start pleading. "No! Andro – Stop! No – do it to me, I can take it instead – Please – No!"

Their scruffy attacker sneered at Harry's pleading and spitefully maintained the spell a few more seconds. When Andromeda made a particularly large twitch, he stopped the spell, then pointed his wand towards a wide-eyed Teddy.

"It's going to be the boy next. Where is the wand, Harry Potter?"

Harry quickly came up with a half-truth. "...It's at Dumbledore's grave at Hog-"

The man pointed his wand at Teddy and shouted, "Crucio!"

If Harry had thought hearing his mother die was the worst thing he could have ever heard in his life, it had changed to that of Teddy's screaming and thrashing form. Anything would be better than hearing his godson in pain.

"Teddy! No! Stop, stop! Please!"

The attacker continued maintaining the curse, a glint of satisfaction deep in his eyes at the pain he saw in Harry's. "I have already checked Dumbledore's grave... I said, where is the wand?"

Teddy's screams made Harry desperate and frantic, his magic working overtime to untie the ropes around himself. He found himself answering, to get the man to stop hurting his son. "It's in the vault in my office at –"

Suddenly, a beam of wild magic shot from the still-screaming Teddy – accidental magic – towards the cloaked man. The man cursed and stopped the cruciatus curse, trying to protect himself from the unfocused magical attack.

However, the unknown accidental magic went past the man's shield charm, causing the man to freeze in place in surprise. But before the effects of the uncontrolled magic could be seen, the attacker immediately began to tear through his robes, a frantic look on his face. A strange hum came from the man and vibrated throughout the clearing.

Before the man had a chance to take out whatever was causing the vibrations, a blast of energy came from one of the his pockets, throwing him away from the three victims. Milliseconds afterwards another hum and a pulse of white light cocooned around the unnaturally-still man.

In the few moments of shock that followed, Harry and Andromeda noticed that the enchantments on them had broken. Andromeda hurriedly struggled to get up while Harry untangled himself from the loosened ropes, hurrying when another pulse – stronger with a wider range – of white light appeared from the man's pockets.

Harry and Andromeda both realized that Teddy, magically drained from his bout of accidental magic and still befuddled from the cruciatus curse, was the closest to the deathly-still attacker and the mystery pulses of light. It was undoubtedly dark magic from some sort of magical artifact that their attacker had been carrying.

Harry continued to frantically loosen his ropes while Andromeda hurried to her grandson, knowing that the next pulse could come any second and catch the child who was shakily getting up from the ground.

When Andromeda was a few feet away, there was a hum of dark magic from the direction of the now-smoking body of their attacker.

"NO!" Harry ignored untangling himself for a moment, simply reaching out with his magic to try to reach his godson before the light – but all his efforts were in vain.

His damnable seeker's skills showed him the moment the pulse of light touched the child, showing the scene in slow motion. Harry's eyes immortalized the moment the light hit the blue haired child, his son – he saw every little detail, from the light being absorbed into Teddy's abdomen, to the moment his son's light brown eyes registered shock, then become blank with death –

And it was and only was death, no doubt about it, for Death had the same aura –

He couldn't help but let out the howl of anguish at the sight – nononono – as an eerily similar scene from before overlapped with what he saw now – one where a man, eyes blank with surprise – SiriusSiriusnonono – was thrown into the air –

"TEDDY!"

But before he could escape entirely from his restraints and race towards his ward, his responsibility, his son, Andromeda beat him there.

Harry felt sharp phantom pains in his heart as he watched the shock registering in the woman's face. She shook her head in denial, but her eyes said she knew exactly what had happened, as he did. Harry sat staring helplessly, his own shocked grief sending his magic roiling under his skin as the older woman cradled her grandchild and sobbed out heart-wrenching pleas of Teddywakeup, wakeupforgrandma, attempting to shake the small child awake from his eternal sleep.

She knelt, continuing to shake her grandson and telling him to wake up, uncaring that the magical artifact had started emitting small jets of light in every direction, making the area even more dangerous to be in. There was a hint of uncontrolled magic in the air, and Harry began to pick himself up, pushing down his grief and sorrow until they could get away.

The unstable flux of magic from the artifact was inappropriately beautiful in all its colors and artistic jets of color, but Harry ignored it, wrestling with the last few tangles of rope. All feelings were pushed aside, even the fact that his son was deaddeaddead –

At another shivering pulse of magic that spread throughout the clearing, he screamed at Andromeda to get away from there and save herself, but the grief-stricken woman sat still, clutching her grandson's body – no, corpse – tightly to herself. She slowly looked up Harry as if hearing his voice from an incredible distance; she didn't seem to see or hear any of Harry's warnings and turned back to stare back at the epicenter where the magical pulses were originating from.

Harry finally stood, free from his tangled web of ropes; he began running towards Andromeda and his son (no, not son – he never got around to telling Teddy about the adoption papers –) only to be on time to see the broken woman get caught up in the bright white (and wasn't that ironic, a pure color for dark magic) pulse of dark magic and fall back to the ground, arms limp around her grandson.

Another touch of death.

"ANDROMEDA!"

He had been, again, too far away to do anything.

The last thing he saw was a wave of white light, the same white light that had hit his last remaining family.

(Inferum.)

Footnotes:

Ex Solem In Umbra (From the chapter title) - From the light into the shadow

Ostentum - Occurrence foreshadowing future events

Ante Finem - Before the End

Via Ad Infernum - Way to Hell

Inferum - Hell

Flower meanings:

Iris - Wisdom and valour, inspiration

Rhododendron - Beware

A/N - Um. I'm reading this again, and I can't believe I wrote this... I feel sad for them, and I wrote it. ...Is that even possible?

Well... I hope it was an okay read. Hope you guys like it...? Unfortunately, Teddy had to die... *tentatively smiles from a safe distance from throwing projectiles*

Constructive Criticism is highly appreciated; no fire too hot.

(Much cyber-love to Reviewers and Viewers!)