Gryffindors Never Die
(They Go to Hell and Regroup)

Prologue

By:
ChipmonkOnSpeed

The Beyond

James Potter, long deceased, kicked a Quaffle at the head of one Sirius Black, also long deceased. Sirius did not pay much attention to the sudden shock of the heavy ball bouncing off the side of his head. He was watching Albus Dumbledore, who had outlived him by all of a year, and Minerva McGonagall who had only passed on three years previously, plotting something.

He was sure they were plotting something.

In all of his years of life, Sirius had plotted many things.

In the 43 years of his death, Sirius had plotted many things.

He knew how to spot plotting.

Many people were with them, in the backyard of Godric's Hollow. They met there every year on Halloween, the Potter's Deathday, to catch up with the dead and the living.

Fred Weasley threw water balloons at Colin Creevey, who retaliated with dirt clods. Cedric Diggory watched them with a smile. The young Hufflepuff had long since gotten over his bitterness over his murder by Peter Pettigrew, though it cropped up in his thoughts now and again.

Speaking of that rodent, Sirius watched him emerge from the house with a tray of food. He was doomed to serve them for eternity. It made Sirius giggle a bit, as a fan of deserved retribution. Having spent a dozen years in prison because of the horrible little man left Sirius angry, even in death.

Remus Lupin pushed open the side gate and held it open for his wife, Tonks Lupin. Nobody had been able to convince her to change her name.

Mad-Eye Moody parked himself in a corner and watched everybody carefully. Death restored his face to the handsome look he had sported before his service as an Auror scarred him, and both of his eyes were perfectly normal. To Sirius, it was creepier to look at than it had been in life.

Lily was fretting beside James as the two sat at a picnic table. She held a small bundle in her arms, one that had small waving arms. All of those gathered were members of the Order of the Phoenix, or people that Voldemort had killed, and that had a connection to a living person.

They had all agreed only to watch the living on Halloween so that they did not spend eternity staring at relatives. Dumbledore had made some connection to the Mirror of Erised, but few had understood that.

"Why are you so riled, Lily?" James asked.

"It's been so hard for me to watch him, James. First, seeing him with Petunia," Lily said, giving Dumbledore the same hard look that she always gave the Headmaster when her sister was mentioned. "Then through Hogwarts, and the Horcruxes! I thought everything would get better after Voldemort was killed."

"And it did Lily," James said. "For a while."

"Are we ready?" Sirius asked as he bounded over to them. Everyone gathered around the table in anticipation. Remus had his arms around Tonks' waist, had her head was leaned back on his shoulder. Moody stood toward the back of the group. Minerva scolded Fred and Colin for roughhousing.

"But I'm sixty!" Fred said with a smile. He wormed his way into the middle of the group. He might have been sixty, but in death, his body was and would remain only twenty.

As everyone all sat there around the picnic table, the sky darkened and became what Lily would call a movie screen. James called it 'odd'.

The Weasley's were holding their annual Halloween Part, with most of the family gathered at the Burrow. Fred teared up a bit at the sight of his twin holding a newborn grandson. "That's my Great-Nephew," he said quietly.

Hermione, 59, and Ginny, 57, were in the kitchen peeling and chopping. "Are they here yet?" Ginny asked.

"Who?" Hermione replied with a particularly vicious chop.

"You know who." Both women paused for a minute at the moniker. Forty years had passed since Voldemort's death, but he had left impressions everywhere. "Our asshole ex-husbands."

"Didn't you hear?" Hermione asked. "There was an execution today. I expect they'll be out celebrating."

"Barbarians," Ginny spat.

"Are you talking about Dad again?" Ginny's daughter, Lily, was in the doorway. She was twenty-nine and quite stunning.

"How did you know, dear?" Ginny asked.

Lily rolled her eyes. "You turned the celery into mash," she answered. Ginny looked down and saw celery pulp where she had intended celery chunks.

"Will you please go take these to your grandparents?" Ginny asked her only daughter while indicating drinks. Lily nodded and took the tray of lemonade out on the porch. Her grandparents, Molly and Arthur Weasley, were sitting beside each other in rocking chairs, talking quietly as the slowly rocked.

They were both in their late nineties, and were not expected to live much longer. It was commonly known that as soon as one went, the other would follow shortly.

"Mom," Fred said calmly, tears in his eyes, "I think all those years of chasing grandkids got to you."

"Pshaw," Minerva said. "It was chasing you and George that got to the poor dear!"

Lily handed the drinks to her grandparents and spoke to them quietly for a moment. After that, she ventured out into the yard to see her brothers. Albus and James were being right terrors. They were grown men with kids of their own, and there they were, being worse than all the kids put together. "Albus Severus! James Sirius! You are TOO OLD to be climbing trees! You are setting a BAD example for your children! GET DOWN!"

The two men dropped lightly from the tree and smirked at their little sister. Before she knew it, she was picked up and thrown in the nearby lake. Wulfric Potter, eldest child of Albus Potter, was eleven and somewhat bored with his family's antics. He dearly wished to see his grandfather, because Halloween was one of the few times of the year he could see the man.

As Wulfric walked back toward the Burrow, his grandfather and great-uncle appeared out of nowhere. "Grandpa!" he yelled, throwing himself into the man's arms.

"Hey, Wulfy," his grandfather said quietly into his ear. Harry Potter was the only person allowed to call him that, period. The man was Wulfric's hero, no doubt. It upset him greatly that so many members of the family disliked Harry.

"Hey, where's my hug?" Ron Weasley asked.

"You're a politician. Grandpa says not to trust politicians." Harry roared with laughter and picked Wulfric up into his arms. He carried the boy to the porch, where he stopped to say hello and hug Molly and Arthur.

"Oh, goodness," Lily said, "I'm a Great-Grandmother."

"You say that every year, Lily," a new voice said. They looked over and saw Severus Snape, who looked much better than he ever had in life. He had even made peace with the Marauders… except Wormtail.

"It scares me every year, Severus! I would be seventy-ugh," Lily said, unable to form the words.

"Seventy-eight, dear," James said helpfully. They had died only a year older than Fred, at twenty-one, so it was hard for them to imagine themselves so old.

They all decided to watch something else for a bit, because Harry and Ron were about to encounter Ginny and Hermione. That was never a pretty scene. They watched Cho Chang for a moment, tending her garden with her only grandchild. The watched a few of the students that either Albus or Minerva or both had known from Hogwarts.

Teddy Lupin was with Andromeda, and they were doing some last minute shopping before heading over to the Burrow. Harry had more than stepped up as a godfather for Teddy. He had taught him how to ride a broom, taught him about girls, and done everything for him that a father would have done. Now, at forty years old, Teddy was taking care of his aging grandmother. She lived with him and his wife, Victoire Weasley-Lupin.

Harry and Ron had stayed at the party less than an hour, and they had spoken to everyone in the family that was speaking to them. It was then that they decided to go visit their favorite pub.

"I just can't watch that anymore," Lily said with a frustrated growl. "His life was wonderful, until he started drinking."

"I think, my dear," Dumbledore said, "that it was the legislation that came first."

"Oh, yes, that damn bill," Lily snapped. "Executions? How could Harry let something like Ministry legislation destroy his marriage?"

"Harry believed he was doing the right thing," Minerva, the only one that had been alive then, said. She shook her head. "Everyone agreed with him, except his family."

"Ron did," James said, as though he needed everyone to know that one member of his son's family remained with him.

"Ron is the Minister of Magic," Minerva said, "he wrote the legislation."

"I have to do something about this," Lily announced. She stood from the picnic table and moved to make her way toward the house.

"What are you going to do?" Remus asked.

"I'm going to convene a meeting, and try to convince somebody to make things right," Lily answered from just inside the door.

"Does she think she's going to convince the universe to set things right for her son, who, no offence screwed up his own life?" Tonks asked.

"Yes." Everybody stared at James. "She's Lily."

2038 CE

Harry Potter, fifty-eight years old, and his best friend, Ron Weasley, also fifty-eight, strode down the main rode of Hogsmead discussing the day's events. It was very chilly outside, which left one to wonder why Harry was wearing only blue jeans and an old, well-worn tee shirt that said, 'Will kill for food'. Ron, the Minister, was wearing formal Ministry robes, but had unclasped a good deal of it, making him look rumpled and disheveled.

Their intended target was the Hogshead, run by Seamus Finnigan, who also ran the Three Broomsticks, the Leaky Cauldron, and the Golden Wand. So, the man pretty much had a liquor monopoly in magical Great Britain. He certainly was not complaining. Each location catered to a different sort of clientele. The Three Broomsticks was for middle class working people. The Hogshead was for scoundrels, criminals, and the lower classes. The Leaky Cauldron was for travelers and businessmen. The Golden Wand was for high society elite. Seamus spent the least amount of time there, because he stated it was 'boring as hell serving dry martinis to dry people'.

Harry liked the Hogshead because when he got roaring drunk, he could act like a complete punk and nobody would care, because they were all just as drunk. Then, he could pass out on one of the beds Seamus kept upstairs!

A truly wonderful life he led.

Harry opened the door for Ron, and the two of them were about to step inside when, at the same time, they felt as if the force of gravity had increased ten thousand fold. They slammed to the ground hard, passing out instantly.