Nose to the Wind // tomarry

Chapter 10: Love is a Doing Word

When Harry woke again, the bedroom was dark and the house silent. Someone had moved Chris back to his own bed, and Harry had a moment to mourn that before realising there was someone else in the room, bone fingers tapping quietly together.

"You're late," he whispered to Death as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

Death shifted, and it was too dark for Harry to be sure, but he suspected the apparition had shrugged. "You needed them to come and find you," it offered.

Harry looked down into the pool of shadows in his lap, lacing his fingers together there, where he could only barely make them out.

"Too, they needed some proof that Tom is not the monster they have been made to believe," Death added, and its fingers stopped tapping together just before one skeletal hand pressed against Harry's cheek. Harry closed his eyes and leant into the touch, accepting the cold comfort. "I do apologise for the damage you suffered in exiting my realm," Death added quietly, the sound of honest regret colouring its genderless voice.

Harry frowned at that and glanced up into the deeper shadows of its hood. "What do you mean by that?"

Death let out a death-sigh. "Your ties to me allow you to draw energy from my realm itself, allowing you to remain within it so long as you please without damage to your mortal form. But, had you returned to your family in such pristine shape, after four days missing..."

"There would have been questions," Harry whispered, understanding, "ones I wouldn't want to answer. That's fine. Thank you for watching out for me, even if I did suffer for it a bit." He flashed Death a grateful smile, unable to stay angry at his eternal servant for something that he hadn't even thought to blame on it.

Death's fingers shifted against his cheek, as though petting him. "I have fixed it," it admitted, and Harry's smile widened into more of a grin. "Should there be concerns, I expect you can play it off as a perk of being wereborn."

"So long as I don't lead them to believe I attempted some sort of ritual," Harry muttered, rolling his eyes. "Don't get me wrong, I love them all, but this human squeamishness about death is..."

"Entirely understandable?" Death offered drily.

Harry snorted. "You just like terrifying people," he replied, and Death rattled a quiet laugh. "Thank you, by the way, for not appearing for my parents."

"Of course, Master."

Harry closed his eyes and let himself lean into the familiar touch on his cheek for a moment more, then sighed. "You probably have people to kill, and I should see to some of those irritating necessities of having a living body."

Death rattled another quiet laugh. "As you say, Master," it agreed before pulling away.

"You're still my favourite," Harry felt compelled to offer before Death could vanish.

"I know," Death replied before it was gone.

Harry smiled at the empty space for a moment before getting up to see to his bladder.

Lily stumbled into the kitchen while Harry was in the process of making himself some eggs and bacon. She stood in the doorway for a moment, looking uncertain.

Harry held up two uncracked eggs questioningly.

Lily sighed. "I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be letting my ten-year-old son make me breakfast."

"Which makes you about a thousand times better than my first caretakers," Harry admitted quietly, and Lily closed her eyes in regret. "Do you want eggs?"