*New story by grumpywolf the author of "Back? Not Really" and "The Fox and the Hare" both of which I'm pretty sure I have recommended before, right?*
Latest update: Febuary 11, 2024
Summary:A dimension hopper Harry Potter who gets sent to various worlds to kill those who made it on Death's shit list. This is his seventh world. The seventh and the last time (he hopes) working as Death's Champion, as their Emissary. Spin-off from "Back? Not Really". Powerful Harry Potter. Harry Potter/Power Girl pairing
Link:https://m.fanfiction.net/s/14311785/1/Emissary
Word count:41k
Chapters:8
AN: This story is a spin-off from "Back? Not Really", a time+dimensional travel story, but unlike it, this fic is a crossover with the Justice League. That said, you don't necessarily need to read the first one in order to enjoy this crossover. All you need to know is that Harry is a powerful but jaded war veteran. He is a dimension hopper who gets sent to various worlds to kill those who made it on Death's shit list.
Before you get started with the fic, please read the notes below to see if it's the kind of fic that interests you or not.
1. Harry is OOC. The core values of his character such as his loyalty to his friends, his desire to protect the innocent and stand up for the weak (his "saving people thing") remain, but other things have changed. At this point, Harry has lived for hundreds of years, so don't expect him to act like when he was a teenager in the books. As for those people who love to complain about how "tHiS iS aN oC wItH hArRy'S nAmE" then this story isn't for them.
2. DC characters' power level will be the one from the animated series and movies (for the most part). So for the comics fans, don't expect to see goofy scenes like Superman obliterating a solar system with a sneeze or Flash being faster than instant teleportation, etc. I'm not interested in debates over power levels either, they never lead to anything good. This is a crossover, things aren't going to be perfect.
3. Graphic depictions of violence and character deaths. If you've read any of my previous fics you probably know what to expect. Seriously, don't overlook this warning if you have something against that.
4. Characters aren't perfect. They can make mistakes. They have flaws. Superman always holds back and rarely fights smart; Flash trips on banana peels; Martian Manhunter often gets taken out like a bum etc. Characters aren't perfect. Harry himself is far from perfect too. Don't expect him to be omniscient and omnipotent. Harry can make mistakes too.
4. Pairing: Harry Potter/Power Girl. A third character might be included in the pairing but don't hold your breath for it. I tend to write OTP stories in general but I'm leaving the door open for something more in this fic. Just don't act surprised if it happens.
Lastly, I'm not a native English speaker, and I don't work with betas. I'm doing my best to proofread my story, but some typos will probably escape my notice once in a while. If you're okay with the above-mentioned things, you may proceed with reading the story. Enjoy!
Chapter 1 - Prologue
It was a calm and beautiful night in June. The air was cool, a pleasant breeze blew gently, and the clear sky was glittering with numerous stars. A cosy cottage was built on the shore of a small lake surrounded by a forest. It was like a small piece of heaven.
A man with messy dark hair and a lightning-bolt-shaped scar on his forehead was watching the idyllic scenery with a thoughtful look in his eyes.
"What are you doing here all by yourself?"
Hearing the gentle voice coming from behind, Harry turned to look at his wife. A pretty, freckled face, a pair of bright hazel eyes, long, flaming red hair, and a curvy figure. Now in her early 30s, Ginny Weasley had bloomed like a flower, she was a rare beauty. But what stood out the most in Harry's eyes was the sizeable bump in her belly. She was pregnant. It was his child.
"Just thinking."
"About what?" she asked as she approached him, snuggling into his side.
Turning slightly, he wrapped his arms around her, hugged her affectionately to his chest, and placed a soft kiss on the crown of her head.
"About how lucky I am to have you."
It felt surreal that after hundreds of years, after several lifetimes of war and hardship, he finally found love, peace, and a place to call home.
The redhead turned around in his arms to face him and pressed a lingering kiss on his lips.
"I'm the lucky one," she said.
He couldn't help smiling at her.
"How is the baby?" he asked.
"Energetic. A bit too energetic, if I may say so."
"That's great."
"Easy for you to say that you're not the one getting kicked every day."
He chuckled at her words. But his witty retort died on his lips because, in the next moment, a heavy tremor shook their house from its foundations.
All the colour drained from Ginny's face. Their home was under the protection of a Fidelius Charm. Nobody should have been able to find them because Harry himself was the Secret Keeper. It was impossible unless-
"It's them again, isn't it?" she asked in a stiff voice.
"Don't worry," he said and pressed a reassuring kiss on her forehead. "Grab the portkey and go."
"I can't leave you alone! Those beings aren't normal!"
"Yes, you can. I can't put you and the baby in danger! Now go!" he said in a voice that left no room for debate.
Unwillingness written on her face, in the end, Ginny listened to her husband's words and summoned the object serving as their emergency portkey, a dog's chew toy. Touching the toy with her wand, she said the activation word:
"Hedwig."
As she uttered that name, she was whisked away-... or so she thought. In the next moment, it was as if she was pulled back by an invisible hand and slammed back on the hardwood floor of their bedroom.
"Ginny!" Harry called out her name startled and rushed at her to make sure she was uninjured. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"I don't know. The portkey failed."
Another violent collision made their entire house shudder. The spells and enchantments protecting their home were not going to last much longer.
'Just what kind of monster came after my head this time?'
Even someone like Voldemort would need at least 10 minutes to break past the wards that he had personally cast to protect his home, but the intruder attacking them had only hit them twice so far, and they looked like they were on the verge of shattering.
Grabbing the alarm clock from the nightstand, he cast the Portkey spell on it in a rush before handing it to Ginny.
"Try it again. I'm afraid we don't have much time. Quickly!"
She took the portkey and said the activation word one more time. For a split second, he was relieved to see Ginny disappear, only for anxiety and fear to wash over him when he saw her getting sent back tumbling again. Leaving aside the fact that portkey travel could endanger the baby in her belly, the even more pressing matter was that she couldn't escape in this critical situation.
A sound like glass breaking was heard, and the outer wall was blown apart completely, raining a hail of debris upon Harry and Ginny inside.
"Ginny! Run to the Floo! Now!" Harry shouted as he cast a Shielding Charm to protect themselves from the hail of debris coming their way from the destroyed wall.
The dust and debris filling the air had yet to disperse when a shadowy phantom flew in and passed through Harry's Shielding Charm unobstructed before slamming into him and throwing him violently against the wall behind him.
"Harry!" Ginny yelled and stopped running, intent on coming back to his rescue.
"Ginny, NO! Don't come back!" he yelled back as he picked himself up from the floor and made a quick V movement with his wand.
A powerful gale of wind burst from his wand and caught the shadowy phantom in full, blasting it out of the bedroom and into the courtyard.
⁂
Although Harry ran after the wraith that he had blasted out of the house, the moment he stepped foot into the courtyard, an expression of vigilance appeared on his face.
The shadowy wraith transformed into a man. Dressed in black robes and wearing a white skull mask on his face, the invader looked eerily similar to one of Harry's most hated enemies.
"Who are you? Who sent you here? Are you a Death Eater? Or maybe you're also one of Death's hunting dogs?"
With the Elder Wand ready in his hand, Harry looked at his enemy with a frosty expression on his face.
"So I'm not the first one that Death sent after your head," the masked invader said. His voice didn't sound human.
A cold chuckle came from Harry.
"If Death sent you, you'll be the fourth of their dogs to die by my hands. But, before that, I have a question. If you answer me honestly, I promise to make your death quick and painless. How did you bypass my Fidelius Charm?"
The masked man didn't entertain him with an answer. Instead, a red beam was fired from his wand.
Turning himself into a wraith as well, Harry evaded the incoming curse by flying 5 metres to the right before materialising his body again to retaliate.
"Not much of a talker, are you?" Harry said when the masked man deflected his Bone-Breaking Curse without as much as saying a word.
But Harry himself could no longer keep talking because his enemy suddenly increased the intensity of his attacks.
"Bollocks," he cussed under his breath as the masked man fired a Shield-Breaking Curse that pierced through his shield as if it were made of paper, nearly taking his head in the process as well.
Another combo consisiting of a Disarming Charm, followed by a Stunning Charm, and then a Shield-Breaking Curse forced Harry on the back foot and made him a split second too late to bring his wand to intercept the fourth spell coming his way.
He was blasted off painfully, courtesy of an Exploding Charm nearly taking his left shoulder away.
"Damn it!" he cussed under his breath. That particular combo was one of his favourites as well due to how quickly and smoothly the wand movements of each of those three spells flowed one after another.
"Sectumsempra!" "Defodio!" Harry yelled after rolling away and getting up to his feet in one motion. He put the maximum amount of power possible into those spells by casting them out loud, but the masked man easily deflected the dark cutting curse and even bounced the Gouging Charm back at him with inhuman accuracy.
Harry let out a grunt as hundreds of tiles rose from the pavement into the air, easily blocking the reflected spell. Stabbing his wand towards the masked man, all the floating tiles were hurled at him, pelting him like a rain of meteorites.
"Evanesco," the masked man's unnaturally deep voice was heard again.
A chill went down Harry's spine as he watched how his grand spell was Vanished. The hundreds of tiles that had been sent flying at breakneck speed all disappeared into nothingness.
As if they had read each other's minds, the masked man and Harry screamed at the same time:
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
Two jets of green light collided, and an incredible phenomenon took place.
"No… no freaking way!" Harry muttered in disbelief.
How was it possible for Priori Incatatem to manifest between the two of them?
'It doesn't make any sense!'
Although the other three Emissaries who came to kill him before also wielded the Elder Wand, due to them being from different worlds, such a phenomenon never happened. After all, each one of Death's wands was finely attuned to the wielder's soul.
Harry's state of confusion and shock allowed the masked man to gain an advantage in their magical version of tug-of-war and push the point of contact between their spells closer to him. He cried out in exertion as he poured his entire will and magical power into his wand, but the masked man appeared to be superior to him in both areas.
Little by little, the point of contact between the two spells inched closer to Harry. Sweat poured from his forehead like rain, and he even screamed as he squeezed out every drop of magic power in his body to halt its advance, but to no avail. The masked man's power was overwhelming.
However, just as the contact point of the two Killing Curses was about to reach Harry, a bright bolt of blue light slammed into the masked man and sent him flying through the air, thus breaking off the connection between the two of them and making the two deadly spells explode against each other.
"Ginny?!" Harry asked in a mixture of surprise, relief, and worry all at once when he turned to see who was the one who had broken their deadlock.
"The Floo won't get started either," Ginny explained herself. "I don't know what spell he cast, but Portkeys, the Floo, and Disapparation don't work. Nothing works."
The masked man picked himself up from the ground, seemingly unharmed. It was as if he had never been hit by Ginny's Expulso Curse; not even a tear appeared in his clothes. Throwing a cold look at the red-haired woman, he said in a warning tone:
"I have no quarrel with you, woman. Leave."
"Sod off, wanker!" she spat at him. "What kind of wife would watch her husband fight someone to the death without doing anything?"
On one hand, Harry wanted nothing more than for her to go away. But on the other hand, deep down, he was relieved to have her by his side. After all, if it not for her intervention a few moments ago, he would have already been dead now.
After spending the last 30 years in a peaceful society, the survival instincts and battle senses that he had developed over decades of fighting in previous lives had been dulled. He had become rusty and complacent. He had not gotten into even one serious, life-and-death duel with anyone in his current life.
Harry and Ginny only had to exchange one look before they both started throwing all sorts of curses and other offensive spells at the masked man. However, even with the addition of another wand against him, he wasn't struggling in the least.
Taking advantage of the fact that Ginny was providing cover fire for him, Harry cast the Killing Curse again:
"Avada Kedavra!"
A murder of crows burst from the masked man's wand. They easily tanked the Unforgivable spell before lunging at the two.
"Incendio Maxima!" Ginny yelled, conjuring the strongest fire spell she was capable of and incinerating all the crows with a vortex of fire.
An eerie hissing sound came from the masked man, and an immense brown snake with dark green patterns burst out of his wand.
"Shit, he's a Parselmouth too?!" Harry cussed.
"Diffindo!" Ginny yelled.
A Blasting Curse and two Cutting Curses came out of Harry's wand as well, but the enormous snake was unnaturally agile and dexterous, avoiding all their spells as if it were capable of precognition.
"Stop right there!" Harry hissed in Parseltongue, but the snake completely ignored his order and lunged at him with its maws wide open, its six rows of razor-sharp teeth creating a terrifying image.
It was at the very last moment that Harry realized that his approach was wrong. The way to deal with quick and slippery targets was to cast area-of-effect spells.
"Depulso!"
There was no dodging that Banishing Charm. The overpowered spell swept the heavy snake up in the air and hurled it over 10 metres away, slamming it violently into the fence surrounding the courtyard. The snake didn't move anymore.
The masked man clenched his hand, and two earthen spikes burst from the ground. Through sheer instinct and luck alone, Harry managed to avoid the spike aiming for his left foot, but he couldn't completely avoid the one aiming for his right thigh.
"Harry!" Ginny cried out in panic when he screamed in pain and collapsed on the ground while holding onto his bleeding thigh.
With Harry momentarily out of the fight, the masked man turned his attention to Ginny:
"I'm warning you for the last time, woman. Step out of the way. For the sake of your unborn child, if nothing else."
Although she was trembling with a mixture of anger and fear, instead of moving away, Ginny spread her arms wide and positioned herself straight in front of her husband, who was bleeding on the ground.
"I won't let you hurt him!" she said, her voice quivering.
She didn't understand why, but, for some reason, the masked man had been hesitant about truly harming her until then. Not only was he telling her to move out of the way but he hadn't used any lethal spells against her either.
While Ginny was covering for him, Harry forced himself to ignore the pain and whispered so only she could hear him:
"Cover me, buy me half a minute. I'll bring out the big guy."
"Okay," she said, all the while not taking her eyes off their enemy.
The following 20 seconds were the most intense moments that Ginny had experienced in her entire life.
She managed to block the first two spells her enemy fired at her with her Shielding Charm, but a third spell, an Exploding Curse, shattered her defensive charm, and a fourth one disarmed her, making her wand fly into the masked man's hand who swiftly snapped it in half.
Even though she was wandless and helpless now, she resolved herself to buy as much time as possible until Harry finished casting his spell, because that was the very spell that had allowed him to defeat the other three killers that Death had sent after him before. It was their only chance.
"Move aside, woman," the masked man said one last time.
"I won't move even if you kill me. You'll have to go over my dead body!"
Although the skull mask was covering his entire face, the masked man's mannerism betrayed the fact that he had run out of patience. A red bolt slammed into Ginny after she lost her wand, and she collapsed on the ground, unconscious. It was a Stunning Charm. Although it was not lethal to a regular person, it could affect pregnant women severely.
Nevertheless, Ginny achieved her goal: she had managed to buy enough time for her husband to complete his spell.
The ground started shaking like during an earthquake as a large amount of soil and debris from the partially destroyed house started gathering in the air in one spot.
An immense creature of earth came into existence. Bearing a humanoid form and standing at over 6 metres tall, it was a sturdy and powerful-looking Earth Golem.
"Elemental Magic, huh? I've been wondering how you managed to kill the other three emissaries before me with your mediocre skills, but now it makes sense," the masked man said calmly.
The Earth Golem wasn't just a simple lump of soil and debris. It was as large and as physically powerful as a real Giant, and the membrane of dirty yellow light glowing on its surface offered it a high degree of resistance against magic. With the Golem Giant charging as the vanguard and Harry casting deadly spells from behind, it finally made sense that even a Death's Emissary could lose their life against such a combo unless they had a unusually powerful spell in their arsenal.
The ground shook with every step the Golem Giant took as it rushed at him, but the masked man was not intimidated in the least.
He put his wand at the side of his waist for a moment before making a slashing motion with it as if he had drawn a blade from its sheath.
"Dao!"
A diagonal slash passed through the magic-resistant earth golem as if it were made of paper, chopping it in half before continuing on and slicing through the mansion's walls as well, bisecting the whole building.
"What the-"
Wide-eyed in bafflement, Harry could hardly believe his eyes. How did his strong guardian get one-shot like that? That Earth Golem had made short work of the other three 'hunting dogs' sent by the Death to kill him before. He could only watch in shock how his golem crumbled to the ground in a pile of dirt, that deadly cutting spell missing his body only by a hair.
But while Harry himself was momentarily stunned in surprise, the masked man pressed on.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Finally snapping out of his stupor, Harry watched in terror the green bolt of light coming at him. As adrenaline coursed through his veins, it was as if time slowed down to a crawl in his eyes.
'I can't dodge it in time!'
Horror washed over him. He couldn't afford to die. After betraying Death and breaking the pact that he had made with them, dying wasn't simply another adventure for him, as Dumbledore used to say. He was going to be tormented for eternity.
In desperation, he did the only thing he could think of at that moment:
"Accio!"
Just as the Killing Curse was about to slam into his him, the unconscious woman flew from the ground straight in front of him, blocking the deadly spell that was supposed to take his life.
For the first time since he appeared, the masked man froze in his tracks like a statue.
"You used your own wife as a shield? …You truly are an irredeemable piece of trash," the masked man said.
Harry himself appeared to be shocked by his own actions, but he quickly recollected himself and got into a fighting stance again.
"I tried to spare your wife and her child since they were innocent, but you killed them with your own hands," the masked man said in distaste, showing a flicker of emotion for the first time. "I'm done playing with you."
Five earthen spikes burst from the ground, skewering Harry's body horribly. One of those spears had also pierced through his lungs. But even while he was choking with his own blood, Harry said in unwillingness:
"You'll end up just like me one day… just wait and see… you're just one of Death's many slaves… there is no happy ending for those like us… there is no escape… there is no hope…"
Now on the verge of death and filled with despair, even his formidable mental toughness wasn't enough for Harry to fight off the masked man's mind control when he aimed his wand at him and cast:
"Imperio!"
Once Harry's eyes glazed over and he stopped struggling due to his mortal wounds, the masked man asked in a calm voice:
"Where did you hide the Philosopher's Stone?"
⁂
It was morning. It was still early seeing as the dew had yet to evaporate, but the sun was shining brightly in the sky and not a cloud was in sight.
In spite of the beautiful start of the day, a man wearing simple black robes and a skull mask was sitting alone on a piece of rock protruding from the ground with his head in his hands. Surrounding him from all sides was a circular formation of very tall and heavy man-made stone structures. He was at Stonehenge.
Stonehenge was an immensely popular tourist attraction for Muggles, and there were even security guards stationed there to protect the historical site from would-be vandals, but, at that moment, not a person could be seen anywhere around. There was no one except for the masked man.
"Death, I'm ready."
A familiar chill permeated the air. The grass and the stones around him were covered by a firm layer of ice as an indistinct, cloak-covered silhouette appeared in front of him.
"Leaving already? So soon? You had just arrived here." Death asked in their raspy voice.
"Yes. My work is finished."
"Are you sure? There are so many more things you could do in this world. New people. New relationships. New-"
"I completed my mission. I'm ready to go to the next one," the masked man said.
Death flew slowly around him, their bony fingers rubbing their chin, as they studied him.
"You seem deeply rattled," Death said.
As the masked man remained silent, Death touched his skull mask with a bony finger, making it disperse into smoke and revealing his appearance.
A rather thin and pale face, a pair of dull green eyes with dark circles underneath, and a mop of messy black hair… …although his forehead was not marred by a jagged scar, and despite that his round glasses were missing, any British wizard or witch would be able to recognize him with a single glance. He looked identical to Harry Potter.
"I'm curious. How did it feel to kill yourself?" asked Death, amusement evident in their voice.
"That worthless piece of trash was nothing like me!" Harry burst with indignation, finally showing some emotion again. "I would never do anything like that!"
He was referring to how that world's Harry Potter used his pregnant wife as a human shield to protect himself from the Killing Curse.
But Death wasn't taken aback by his outburst and merely chuckled.
"He was no different than you in his first lifetime, you know? A tad less skilled, indeed, and a bit more lucky than you were, but still. Character-wise, you were virtually the same."
"How did he end up like that?" he asked.
"After living through four lifetimes, his psyche couldn't take it anymore. You know how it goes. In one world, your parents are those heroes who sacrificed their lives to protect their child but in the next one, they could be devoted followers of Voldemort. In one world your biggest enemies are good people while in another world you might be forced to kill your former lover or parents with your own hand. There is an infinite number of earths, an infinite number of realities, an infinite number of possibilities."
Harry listened to their words quietly.
"On a rational level, he knew that they were different people. He knew that he was doing what was right. But that thought only soothed his conscience for so long. He cracked after the fourth world, where he was forced to kill Hermione Granger who had made a Horcrux," Death said. "I think that's what broke him. After arriving in his fifth world, here, instead of killing Nicholas Flamel and destroying the Philosopher's Stone as I had ordered him to, he only killed the Flamels and kept the Stone for himself."
At the mention of it, Harry took out the Philosopher's Stone from the pouch strapped to his waist and handed it to Death. The Stone was still stained with dried blood from when he retrieved it from the corpse of this world's Harry Potter.
As the Stone came into contact with Death's bony palm, it turned into mist, and a cry like that of a large group of spirits rang. Their screeches sent shivers down his spine.
"You have accomplished my task. Now tell me, my champion, what is it that you desire?"
By now, Harry was familiar with Death's games because this was his sixth lifetime already. He knew better than to fall for Death's sweet 'rewards'.
"Just take me to the next world," he said in a tired voice. "I don't want anything else. All I want is for this to end. I'm… tired."
It wasn't even about wanting to meet his loved ones in the afterlife anymore. Feelings and emotions dulled as time passed, and a long time had passed for him, indeed - he had been alive for many, too many years. Now, all he wanted was to rest.
Even with his rigorous mental discipline, he was exhausted. Being immortal wasn't fun and games when he had to constantly travel to different dimensions to kill and destroy Death's enemies.
It was only the thought that his next life was going to be his last that gave him the strength to endure.
The previously chatty Death turned silent at his words.
"If that is what you desire… …so be it," Death said after a while. "This will be your seventh and final world."
⁂
"I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this," a middle-aged man said.
"Then what were you expecting?" his wife asked, rolling her eyes at him.
"I thought it'd be like that time when we went to that abbey in North Yorkshire. I was hoping for something more…magical," he said. "We're not even allowed to touch them stones, we can only look from a distance."
"You're complaining that a pile of rocks isn't as interesting as a 13-century gothic abbey?" she asked with a deadpan.
"Okay, point taken," he conceded.
They were only two among the nearly one hundred tourists who chose to visit Stonehenge that day. While others were passionately speculating about the reason for the monument's existence and the way those enormous rocks had been transported thousands of years ago, the couple was just making light conversation about completely different things.
However, at that moment, a chilly wind started blowing. As most of the tourists were wearing short-sleeved tops, they really got to feel the cold.
"W-What's going on?" one of the tourists asked, stuttering from surprise as the previously warm summer weather became freezing cold.
The group of tourists watched petrified with shock as a layer of ice suddenly covered the large stone structures and a dense fog covered the inner area of Stonehenge.
Some of the smarter ones immediately broke into a run, putting as much distance as quickly as possible between them and the strange and unnatural phenomenon.
⁂
The first thing Harry noticed when he regained consciousness was the noise coming from a group of people. Opening his eyes, he realized that he was surrounded by white on all sides. The fog was so thick that he could barely see his hand in front of his face. But he wasn't worried. In fact, his heart was lighter than it had been in hundreds of years.
'This is it. My final lifetime.'
He almost smiled as he stood up from the rock he had been lying on and stretched his arms above his head until he heard a satisfying pop in his back.
'No, I shouldn't let my guard down,' he reminded himself as he started walking towards the outer rim of Stonehenge. 'I'm absolutely certain that Death is quite happy with my service.'
In other words, he suspected that Death wasn't going to let go of him that easily. He was too good at what he did, all the while maintaining his humanity relatively intact. He had been the perfect Emissary.
'First off, I need to get away from here and gather information about this world.'
He resolved himself to be extra cautious because this was his final run. He didn't want to die now of all times, not before he accomplished Death's mission. Otherwise, Death would bring him back until his task in this world was completed. However, for every death and revival, Death would add one more lifetime of service to his contract.
'Alright. Time to go now.'
Seeing as it was a different world, he didn't want to risk Apparating in a place he knew from memory because things could be different from what he remembered. Bearing those thoughts in mind, his body turned into a shadowy wraith before taking off.
Cries of shock and terror burst from the tourists watching the fog and ice-covered Stonehenge when a wraith that looked like Death itself flew out of the ruins.
Link:https://m.fanfiction.net/s/14311785/2/Emissary