INNOVATOR; Ch 46: The 'God-Who-Returned

Author's Note: Welcome to the last chapter of INNOVATOR. I really hope you will like it.

Also, many thanks and congratulations to our seven holders of the Guildmaster tier: Camo, I am Lord Dems, StormFox, RyanMK666, Lyrical , PenguGoesVroom and Hydrus Black!😇🥰

Now, without any further ado....Let's begin!

Author Out!

“I am Talking.” 

‘I am Thinking’

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

We are born, so to speak, twice over;

Born into existence, and born into life;

Born a human being, and born a man.

~Jean-Jacques Rousseau

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“I am Talking.”

‘I am Thinking’

Spells

INNOVATOR

-Dev Sagittarius Black

~~Chapter 46: The God-Who-Returned~~

.

Peace. 

Silence and eternal calm. 

There was nothing else that mattered anymore. Just the silence around him and the relief in his mind that came with it.

The Dark Lord was dead. The rifts were closed, and Dementors and Tandavam, as well as the Guilds and ICW, were taking care of the army of tarnished souls that had managed to trespass through the crevices. 

There was nothing more to do….he could just sleep here for an eternity, and the world would still stand strong against anything that managed to threaten the natural balance….

“Open your eyes, Anubis,” A mismatched voice interrupted his thoughts, “The world you protected is mourning your demise.”

Demise? But he was still alive….wasn’t he?

“Not right now, you are not.” The voice of Death replied. “Your body took quite a bit of strain in bringing two of my weapons and then hosting me for a whole minute. You did well; unfortunately, a mortal’s fragile physique is not made to host the divine repeatedly.”

That was certainly not what he had wanted to hear. He knew that there might be consequences of constantly summoning the weapons and Death itself, but he had expected a coma at best. It would have been acceptable, as his magic would have immediately healed him, but death? That wasn’t a path that gave you another chance. 

“Yet it is only in death where a mortal does not have to trouble itself with paths of life.” Death answered him once more, “But, just like always, you, Anubis, are quite the mortal. A special one who has been blessed by the fates to achieve my realm twice.” There was a small undertone of surprise in the entity’s voice: “All you have to do is open your eyes once more.” 

Twice? But wouldn’t that mean….? Did it really mean what he understood it to mean? Surely that was impossible! But-but what if it was true? The entity had, after all, never lied, right? Right! After all, whoever said there was any harm in trying? Wasn’t there a saying that you miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take? 

Harry gave a small grunt of displeasure, his body resisting his urge to trust Death’s word as he instantly opened his eyes only to cry in agony from the assault of unending brightness on his sensitive nerves. 

“A little bit gentler.” The voice was amused. “You might have stayed in my Realm for seven mortal years, but this is not my Realm.” 

This time the mortal took a few moments before he slowly opened his eyes, adjusting to the brightness of the place he was in. He gave a small groan as he sat on the ground and took a look around himself.

The first thing he glanced at was the plain, grassless field of pure white that surrounded him. There was no end to it, stretching as far as his vision could perceive. He looked up and witnessed the classical heavens of Death’s land, which was actually a charcoal black space with what looked like colorful specks of swirling light dotting it; nothing else was there. No humans, no creatures; there was absolutely nothing except the charcoal black sky filled with universes and galaxies and the plain snow-colored field.

“Familiar, is it not?” Death spoke once more, and Harry looked behind himself at the white-hooded figure with a faceless smile. “I appreciate the change of colors, but I prefer the darkness that has been associated with my appearance.” 

“What?” 

“Have you still not perceived as to where you are?” The entity asked, “Look around yourself and tell me, Anubis, where are we?”

“Your realm, of course.” Harry mumbled. “The fields and those galaxies…this is where I was trained by Commander Dramox.” 

“Is it?” Death mocked, a small grin shadowed its face. “Do you not remember how you reached and left my Realm? Do you not remember the path you had to take?” 

Harry frowned a bit at that. Yes, he did. He remembered the pathway of memories…painful memories filled with dungeons, deaths, and blood. Death had told him that the only way to reach the Realm of Ends was by accepting the deaths done by you while you breathed.

“Indeed.” Death nodded, “But you did not go through any of your memories this time, am I correct?”

Harry nodded at that, as the last thing he remembered was watching as Death pulled Herpo’s soul inside itself, and Alan’s bombarda connected with the mortal self of Tom Riddle. After that, he had felt the strain on his magic and body and had broken the connection he had with the divine. 

“You tried, yes, but you did not succeed.” Death replied. “Back there I saved you from killing yourself.”

“How?” 

“Breaking the bond while I was still present would have released my essence around the world.” It answered. “Do you understand what that would have done? It would have utterly destroyed the world you had just died to protect.”

“And…uhh…what now?” He asked hesitantly. “Is the world still there?”

“It is.” Death nodded, “But to protect the world, I had to stop you from breaking the bond, which would have strained your body beyond repair. Therefore, I did the only thing possible: closing all the functions in your body.”

“All of them?” 

Death gave a small nod.

“Does that mean I am actually dead?” 

“Almost.” The figure shook its hooded head. “Your soul lives, and so does your mind.” It turned to look at Harry, “Which brings us to where we are right now.” 

It only took the smartest brain alive a moment to understand what the divine being meant. Once more he looked around himself, and this time he wished that instead of the plain white lands, the land may turn grassy green with a small lake in the center.

His eyes widened in surprise when the exact image from his mind took shape on the previously snow-colored field. 

“Indeed.” Death spoke once more, “We are in your own mindscape, Anubis. The place where you could rest and where we could have our much-needed little conversation till your magic heals your body enough for it to start functioning once more.” 

“I…see…” Harry sighed. It was obviously not a good situation, but there was nothing they could do about it anyway, so he focused on much more important matters. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“You succeeded in your mission, a mission that would have destroyed any other mortal to smithereens, and yet here we are.” The entity gave an enigmatic smile as it took a small step towards the boy. “You are alive, the world is safe, and soon enough, in a few mortal days, the natural balance will be restored once more.” 

“Yes, but the magical world is exposed now, and it doesn’t take a genius to realize what will happen in a few years.” Harry sighed, “There will be another war, and this time it will be humans destroying each other.”

“Which is what brings us to the point of our current conversation.” 

Harry frowned a bit at Death’s words, “It does?” He asked, “Do you want me to fight another war?” 

“Not yet, and hopefully that future won't come for you.” The divine being shook its head in the negative, “What I want to offer you is something that I promised you all those years ago when you joined the Necromancers Guild.” He smiled once more when he saw the confusion that crossed his apprentice’s face. “Remember our first conversation, Anubis?” Death grinned more. “The time when you and your triumvirate managed to summon me in person to take you to the Realm? I had said something about you when you had first joined us all those years ago.” 

Harry frowned in concentration, going through his memories of the day when he had participated in the grand ritual in which they had summoned the entity into the guild. He tried to shift through his first conversation with Death, and his eyes widened in shock when a single statement came up in his memories. It was something that the entity had foretold years ago when it had bestowed him with the name ‘Anubis’. 

‘.............“When you joined us, I told you that you would get a boon and that you would know how to attain it.”

“I didn’t do this for the boon; I did this because—”

“It was the right thing to do? Sure, you did.” Death had said sarcastically. “You never even wanted the powers, did you, Anubis? It never crossed your mind what you would be able to do with my powers.”.............’

Harry looked back at the entity only to find the being smiling down at him. “Is that the thing you wanted to talk about?” 

Death gave a single nod. “For protecting the realm of the living, you, Harry Potter, have repeatedly given proof of your strong strength, determination, and sheer willpower, and for that the world of the living, as well as the god of Death, thanks you.” The entity then raised its arm. “Now, as a prize, I will give you a single boon. You can ask whatever you want, and I won’t be denying it.” 

Harry soaked in the information like a thirsty man running through the hot desert. “Anything?”

“There is a certain limitation, obviously, but I am quite sure a mind like yours can walk around it.” 

Harry raised his eyebrow as if asking his master when the entity was exactly going to tell him that part. 

Death just gave a small enigmatic smile. “Being a multiversal god of all ends, there are certain things I am not allowed to do; one of them is interrupting the procession of the natural order.” The entity shrugged, “That also includes the natural order of Life and Death.”

Harry nodded. “So, I cannot ask you to return someone from the dead, is that it?”

“Life and Death, Anubis.” The entity shook its head. “Neither can you ask me to grant a life that has perished, nor can you ask me to take a life that still has time.”

“What about—”

“Ah yes, immortality, a curse coveted by fools in all of the universes.” Death shook its head once more. “Extending someone’s natural lifespan means interrupting the natural cycle, and like I have said before, I cannot do that.” 

“So, no killing, no rebirth, and no immortality…” The innovator slumped forward. “What’s left then? Breathing?”

Death gave a small chuckle at the helplessness that surrounded its apprentice. “I am quite sure that you can do that without my aid.” It leaned down and said in a much more serious tone, “Think of something that only I can grant you, something that your own magic has been unable to do to date. Something that will help you fulfill promises from the past and your goals in the future.” 

Harry frowned a bit; the way his master was speaking about it, it seemed as if it already knew what he needed most. There was something that would help him immensely, but right now he couldn’t think of a single thing that would help him fulfill his dream. Especially since all that he had left of his dream was the destruction of the Council of Paragons. 

‘But that is something that I could do on my own, right? It’s not something that difficult anymore.’ Harry thought, ‘All I need is the damn location of their headquarters and….’ He stopped right there. 

How long had they been interrogating the Malfoy Lord? Three months? Four? Old Lucius had forgotten his own identity with the way Sirius had tormented the former lord, and yet all of their tries had been unsuccessful because there was no way other than straightaway Legilimency that could retrieve the information that had been sealed by the protection magic of the council.

‘But Sirius had said that doing so would immediately put Malfoy’s mind on a lockdown, and then his magic would kill him immediately, which would also kill the person trapped doing the Legilimency.’ Harry frowned a bit before a single thought crossed his mind….

‘But….what if the person who is retrieving the information…..’ He looked at Death. ‘Was already dead?’

⁂

The early morning rays of the rising sun sneaked past the receding clouds and scattered on the torn and bloodied battlefield as the defenders of Hogwarts gathered to mourn their losses. Even in the wildest of their nightmares, none of the living ones would have ever thought that within a few minutes, a simple night of a friendly tournament would turn into an all-out war.

One that would cost them so much…

Alandale Potter, the newly crowned ‘Boy-who-won’, was saddened by the number of good souls who gave up their future to safeguard everyone else’s. He, alongside everyone else, had helped the elves in scouring through the battlefield for the remains of every great individual who died for them.

No matter what position they held, be it a professor or a student or even other creatures like the centaurs and mermen, every single one of them had been placed in the center of Hogsmeade. 

A few of them, like Headmaster Dumbledore and Lord Greengrass, had been placed separately because of the number of individuals who wanted to pay their respects.

Thinking of the jolly old headmaster as a dead man was something that he would never get used to. Being the Boy-Who-Lived and a ward of the Weasleys, who always praised the venerable headmaster, it was still a shock to admit that the man wasn’t with them anymore. That there wouldn’t be any anymore welcome speeches, no one to offer them candies in the headmaster’s office, no one to give them the much-needed wisdom in their troublesome moments. 

The man who was thought to live a hundred more years had chosen to take down a hundred of the attackers instead and had been joined in his death by his younger brother, who had stuffed out the rest of them in a ferocious display of magic.

The Dumbledore legacy had finally been closed with the deaths of Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore. The men who died with a smile on their faces and a vision of a healed Hogwarts in their hearts. 

Most of their professors, like Snape and Sinistra, had also left them, along with quite a number of students from various houses and years. Mostly Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs had fought against Voldemort’s army, but there were a fair number of Claws and less than a handful of Slytherins, who, like Daphne, had fought for the right side.

Speaking of the former ice queen, his heart ached when he heard the girl cry once more over his brother’s rapidly cooling body. The poor girl had lost her father as well as her boyfriend in a single night, and she had been inseparable from the innovator’s body, clutching his dirty hand in hers as she screamed to the heavens to take her instead.

Harry’s body had been placed in between Lord Greengrass’s and Dumbledore’s and had been surrounded by the entirety of Ravenclaw House, including their head, Filius Flitwick, who had been unable to stop the tears from falling.

Fleur and her sister Gabrielle were there as well, the former crying on her boyfriend, Blaise Zabini’s shoulder, while the latter was being consoled by Cho Chang and her boyfriend, Cedric Diggory, who had lost his left arm to a dark curse from Dolohov.

There were a few more notable names like Pomona Sprout, Alastor Moody, Bill and his former friend, Ron Weasley, alongside Emmeline Vance and Hestia Jones, and then there were the plethora of aurors and hitwizard squadrons who had been charged with protecting their dignitaries. 

Almost all of them had been portkeyed away to their countries by their respective groups, and the few who remained here would be taken away with time. 

They had won the war, written their names in the golden pages of history, defeated the raiders, and killed almost all of them who had dared to lay a finger on the castle, yes, but the cost of that had been tremendous. Victory came at quite a price, and it almost felt like a defeat if one carefully looked around at the crumbling structures of Hogsmeade and the burning grounds of Hogwarts. 

The redhead dragged his feet towards his brother’s corpse and watched as the crowd parted to allow him to take another look at the fallen Potter. Once more, Alan glanced at the innovator’s dead body, the guy who had been the last of his blood and had almost seemed like a god amongst men. The person who had managed to literally summon divine weapons of mass destruction, who had turned the tides of war in their favor. A man who was the last person that one would ever assume to die. 

There were no words that could describe the plethora of emotions, sentiments, and actions that made a guy Harry Potter. A man whose strength battled that of the fiercest of dragons and worst of the Dark Lords, and whose mind shaped the entirety of the magical world.

He placed a gentle hand on Daphne; the weeping blonde didn’t even take notice of it till he shook her shoulder. “I-I don’t know what to say to you, Daphne.” He whispered, “The only one who knows him better than the rest of us is you. He was my brother, my blood, with whom I shared my parents and magic. The person who had been with me when I was nothing but a small baby, and yet there was no one closer to his heart than you.” 

The Greengrass heiress just sobbed harder at Alan’s words; she screamed once more, crying loudly among many others as she couldn’t control herself anymore and fell on Harry’s chest with a loud thump.

“I know it’s hard, but…but I don’t think that Harry would have wanted you of all of us to—”

The boy stopped when all of a sudden Daphne sat upright, her puffy baby-blue orbs saucer-wide in shock as she looked at Harry’s dead body.

“Daphne?” Alan asked her, “What happened? Why are you—”

“He-He….” She mumbled, “He—”

“What?” 

“He…” She looked up at him, her teary eyes watching him with something akin to profound shock. “He a-alive! He’s alive!!” She said more urgently before looking at everyone else around them. “HE-HE…” A hiccup interrupted her. “HAR-HARRY’S ALIVE! HE’S ALIVE!!” She shouted as loudly as she could, a small grin slowly splitting on her face.

The first thought that crossed through Alan’s mind, which he wasn’t proud of, was that she might have started hallucinating due to trauma and an entire night of fighting and helping Madam Pomfrey in healing whoever they could, but then the Greengrass heiress looked at the matron of the hospital wing, who stood just a few steps away with the rest of the professors and Deputy Headmistress McGonagall. 

“Madam Pomfrey!” Daphne cried, “QUICKLY! I CAN HEAR HIS HEARTBEAT!!” 

This final exclamation was the one that finally got everyone’s attention on Harry’s body as the mediwitch rushed to check whether her temporary helper from last night was speaking the truth or if she was wrong and got biased because of her connection with the patient. 

Pomfrey placed her hand over Harry’s chest, and she looked back at Daphne, who was openly grinning now. The mediwitch then checked for his pulse before she placed a finger above his lips to check his breathing. Her eyes went saucer-wide, and she immediately flicked her wand out, casting away at Harry’s body in a rapid manner.

“Poppy?” McGonagall called her friend, “What happened? Is Daphne speaking the truth?” She asked. 

The matron of the hospital wing looked at everyone who watched her with bated breath before her eyes fell on Daphne’s excited ones, and she nodded, “In all of my years as a mediwitch, for the first and probably the last time, a man has returned from death.” She looked back at McGonagall and smiled. “All of his vitals are shockingly normal as well, and with my calculations, Harry Potter should be opening his eyes any moment now.” 

The cheer that rang through the entirety of Hogsmeade at her declaration was so loud that for a few moments all Alan could hear were screams of joy and chants of ‘HARRY POTTER’. The redhead sat on Harry’s other side, holding his brother’s hand as he too felt the pulsing of his vein in the wrist. 

He looked back at everyone’s faces once more; Blaise, Cho, and the rest of Ravenclaw House cheered once more. There were still a few sad ones, especially those who were grieving their own losses, and Alan couldn’t blame them for not being participants. After all, blood was thicker than water, and as Harry used to say during the times they trained together: ‘In the end, the only thing that truly matters is Family.’

Family….his family…his brother…the one that was returning back from the clutches of Death.

It took just a few more minutes before Harry’s chest rose once more and he exhaled a deep breath, his fingers began to twitch, and a sudden influx of magic saturated the nearby atmosphere.

Everyone waited with bated breath as the unofficial prince of magical Britain, the smartest mind alive, the one who could literally be called a god amongst men, gave a soft groan and gently opened his eyes to look at the bright orange sky. His gaze shifted to his right, and he saw tears rolling down Daphne’s cheeks while the crowd once more thundered loudly into an excited applause, and everyone started chanting Harry’s name.

Before the boy could even utter a word, Daphne leaned down and smashed her lips with the one man whom she loved more than life itself. Tears fell freely down her eyes as the girl poured all of her love into that one kiss, hoping that the man would not only accept but also reciprocate it.

Harry couldn’t help but smile a bit before he wrapped his hands around her, gently securing her to his side as his body began to levitate once more. The innovator didn’t let her go at all, holding the heiress close to his chest before he shot twenty feet above the rest of them. 

Daphne shrieked a bit, breaking the kiss as she clutched tightly onto the flying man. She looked down at everyone’s amazed faces before she turned to look at his smiling face and glowing emerald orbs. 

“Missed me?” 

She nodded, “More than anything.” Her hands tightened around his torso. “Don’t ever leave me like that.”

Harry just smiled at her before a single thought crossed his mind: “That depends on your answer.” 

“My answer?” She asked him. “What do you mean?” 

In response, the innovator pulled her face closer, looking deeply into her innocently blinking baby blue eyes. “Death offered me peace, and yet I knew I had to return today and many more times in the future because there is something that I want to do more than anything else,” he whispered, “and that is to grow old with the one girl who I swear I couldn’t love more than I do right now, and yet I know I will tomorrow.”

“Harry—” 

He stopped her with a finger to her lips. “Daphne Greengrass,” he began as tears of joy began to cloud her vision, “Will you do the honor of making me the happiest man alive by becoming my wife?” 

The girl didn’t even wait for a second as she kissed him once more, a bright smile splitting her lips as tears rolled down her eyes. “Yes! YES YES! A MILLION-BILLION TIMES YES!!!” 

The two laughed loudly as Harry raised his hand towards the skies and shot a spell from the palm of his hand. The spell took shape, and words formed in the sun-rising sky that said, 

‘Mr. and Mrs. Potter to be!!’ 

Alan and the rest of their friends started to cheer loudly, McGonagall and Flitwick raised their wands and shot fireworks, while Blaise and a few others wolf-whistled.

The world might not return to what it had been just a night ago, but that didn’t mean that their future was doomed. It just meant that they would have to work more to make the world a better place than what it was. It would probably take a lot of work, yes, but none of them would shy away from it. 

It was their world. 

They were the ones who lived in it, and it was up to them to not only protect it from outside forces but also shape it better and pave the path for their future generations.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ending note: There you have it, everyone! The last chapter of INNOVATOR. The only one left after this is the epilogue. 

Thank you for staying with me through the incredible journey of this superb fic.

Now only the epilogue is left, and that will be posted next week.

I am waiting for all your comments. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.


Thank you once again,

With regards,


Dev Black