In hindsight, Harry should have expected his plans to end up this way. Back when he had been human, most of his plans had gotten screws thrown in them. He just hadn't known that the screw in this plan would turn out… this way.

He had just wanted to go on vacation and not have to be Death all the time. Not have to guide souls to the afterlife. And maybe that vacation was more of witness protection than vacation but Harry wasn't going to argue with his reapers. The minute he ended up in the north pole in this world… Well… And who would have known that the world he had ended up in had Santa's workshop already built and ready.

Though the small village was quiet, deadly quiet. Every building had holiday lights strung on the rooftops in extravagant ways, winding around pillars and windows. Though the lights weren't on. None of the lights were on as he walked on. As he ventured into the village, his cloak on his shoulders, the ring on his left middle finger and the wand tucked like a pencil above an ear, he passed polar bears that were on their backs, like overturned turtles. He passed little people who had fallen where they had stood, little people who after a closer look, had pointed ears.

They were all… alive, after he knelt down to check one's pulse, but they were… asleep. Asleep or something that was keeping them from waking up. There was a faint hum in the village that he could sense but that was it for anything that didn't seem to fit.

He passed prints in the snow that had the faintest similarity to reindeer. The animals that had made the marks were definitely hooved and as big as horses. Harry stopped in what seemed to be the main square, his eyes narrowed in confusion as he looked around. He reached up a hand to the slight beard on his face, still unsure whether or not he liked having more hair on his chin. It was a short beard nonetheless but it was there.

The main… building looked to be ahead of him, big and dark and open. The great doors of the main building were wide open as if a strong gust of… something had kept them open. Howling filled the air and it wasn't wolves. Harry let out a noise and the elder wand slipped into his fingers as he ventured over to one of the side buildings, to what looked like a stable. He stepped into it, the door also open and poked his head into the various stalls, seeing reindeer asleep where they stood.

Their manes had grown long and their antlers… were tall. Their coats were shaggy and long, well past the time to trim them.

Harry shivered at the sight, seeing a big sleigh in the back of the building and harnesses up on the wall on racks.

"What the fuck."

Dust covered the walls, doors and windows. Harry shuddered and walked back out of the stable, stopping before the steps to the main building, to what he thought might have been… Santa's workshop, once upon a time. He was in the North Pole, in a small village that was once bustling with life and now…

He swore under his breath, his heart skipping a beat, as he stared up at the few steps up to the wide open door and stepped inside. It was cold inside, no lights lit, no fire places roaring away and he kept walking, following the faint howling noise.

What was once Santa's workshop was cold, dark and grey and there was no sign of Santa. All the elves he passed were in the same condition as the ones outside, fallen where they had worked and snoring away. He conjured his patronus while he walked, taking in the workshop, and nodded to Prongs. The stag loped circles around him, keeping the strange power at bay. Or at least whatever had affected these people and animals.

Harry walked up the big, winding staircase ahead of him, seeing at least one hallway that was filled with ovens and unconscious elves. He kept on walking, taking in the top of the staircase above him. It looked like it ended in a master suite perhaps at a tower that he figured could have been Santa's quarters. He was still trying to believe what he was seeing, having thought Santa wasn't real for at least three hundred years.

As he arrived at the top of the staircase, he looked left and right into the hallways that spilled out in front of him. He supposed once upon a time everything would have been beautiful, lit up and bustling with energy, happiness and creative thoughts. Now… it was dusty and dead.

Whatever world he was in had not had a Santa in several years, maybe longer, and Santa's workshop had just… died, more or less. The elves, reindeer, and all of the other creatures were asleep and he still had not seen a single sign of Santa himself. Perhaps Santa was… gone, in someway or another.

He stopped in the center of the hallway, peering at the big doors in front of him and nudged them open. There was no sign of any human in here. No sign of anything but dust. Oh, there was beautiful furniture and a toy train track but there was no sign of Santa. The suit lay on the bed, dusted over and ripping a little bit.

Harry stepped back out, his heart aching at the thought of what might have happened, and moved back, peering down into Santa's workshop. He stared out into the dusty factory and then headed back down, heading for the bigger room he saw in the front of the building, sneezing violently after a minute. He took care to not step on any elf, minding his feet, and found himself in what might have been Santa's command deck.

Or the hall where he planned his trips. Now… now there was a big, grey ball of power pulsing in the center of it. Harry's nose wrinkled at the sight and his scar twinged for the first time in hundreds of years.

The power pulsed like a heart, like a morbid heart that wasn't keeping something alive but was actually killing it. Prongs stopped beside Harry and pawed at the floor, echoing Harry's thoughts exactly. Raw power pooled at his fingertips and he flung it at the ball of power.

The minute it it, an explosion echoed throughout the room and Harry froze where he stood, weathering the backlash. Nothing happened as he watched and he took a deep breath and poured energy into the patronus beside him and pointed the wand at the power.

Prongs charged, glowing like the sun and whinnied eerily before dipping his antlers towards the ugly power and colliding with a loud boom. Harry yelped and took a step back, shielding his eyes until the backlash ended, until he could open his eyes and not see all black.

Prongs stood where the power had been, flickering in and out of existence. Harry called his magic back in and dipped his head in a nod. But… the power… The ugly power that he had seen was gone. The roars of fire places filled the air. The roar of a polar bear drew his attention. The dust vanished as he watched. He ran back out of the hall and peered out and down into workshop, seeing elves waking up all around him.

The elves all blinked their eyes open, groggily waking up after several years. Holiday lights came back on, lighting up the workshop once again. Power filled the great building, bringing with it the smell of pine trees, holiday dinner, fresh straw from the reindeer stable and the smell of wood carvings.

Harry smiled and met the eyes of a few elves that were close, watched their eyes widen and then they yelled out joyfully.

"Santa! Santa's back!"

He could hear singing echoing through the factory below him, joyful and loud.

Harry blinked, turned around to look behind him and saw nothing.

"Santa!"

Harry stared, his heart skipping several beats in his chest, and turned back around.

"The fuck. You mean me, don't you?"

The elves all nodded, their eyes still wide and happy and their smiles wide.

Harry groaned and shivered as he could feel his magic changing. He was no longer Death but he was still immortal. His magic center was changing colors, from green and black… to red and green.

"I'm not Santa!"

"Yes, you are! They said that the one who broke the curse would be the new Santa!"

Harry blinked dazedly, watched as elves all around the workshop came up to see him, some of them reaching to touch him, like they were checking to see if he was real. One of them, a taller man, older than the others, herded him to Santa's room and gestured to the suit.

Harry looked out behind him, seeing a small group of elves smiling joyfully at him, and then sighed. He returned the elves' expressions with a smile of his own, the joy easily infectious. "Fine."

"Hey, Comet."

Harry stroked the reindeer's muzzle, getting that one spot that made Comet melt into his fingers. Comet groaned low in his throat and leaned into his fingers. Every reindeer had been groomed to perfection after everyone had woken up and each animal had dearly enjoyed it. It had been seven rather busy months of getting all the toys made and ready to be delivered. And it was December 24th, Christmas Eve. The night of his journey around the world.

His beard was now white and a little longer than it had been before he had traveled to this world. The hair on the top of his head had white strands in it, growing whiter as the days went by. The suit had been cleaned and steamed and fit him perfectly.

The harnesses on the reindeer were gleaming and spotless. The sleigh that they all hooked up to was likewise and had a special toy bag in the back.

All of the elves that worked in the workshop surrounded them. All of them were grinning widely, relieved that Harry had agreed to take up the job of Santa. Music streamed into the area, bells were ringing and he could hear a choir singing not too far away. He could see two polar bears directing traffic in the village and he grinned at the sight.

It was lightly snowing out and Harry had breathed out a sigh of relief earlier, knowing that it would be easier to fly in clear weather.

"Good luck."

The head elf nodded to him and then stepped back as Harry stepped into the sleigh, taking up the reins in one hand.

"Alright. Let's do this. Let's go!"

He flicked the reins and his team of reindeer loped ahead, pulling the sleigh forward and up into the air. All he was taking with him was the bag of toys and himself. The hallows would stay in his rooms and all of the elves knew to avoid them. None of them had asked questions about the hallows though. They all seemed to know everything about him by now, by some eerie Christmas magic.

Harry smiled as the sleigh was pulled up into the air by the reindeer and guided them to his first destination.

Harry slipped down into the chimney and looked out over the living room in front of him. He noted the various bits and pieces of robotics strewn throughout the hall, noted the quiet fire in the fireplace underneath him. The tree was decorated with all store bought ornaments, with only one or two personal ones.

The mansion he was in was quiet and there was no child asleep on the couch in front of the fireplace. There was no couch in front of the fire place in fact, just chairs that looked rather uncomfortable. There was no music, no sign of any pictures of the child that lived here. Instead, there were newspaper clippings and framed awards of the father, who was apparently head of a big industry company.

There were clippings of articles about World War II, about one of the many heroes that had fought in it. But none of the articles were of the child who lived here. There was not one sign that a child lived here or that a woman lived here.

Harry stared at the tree and then shook his head, drawing the requested toy out from his bag and placed it beneath the tree. The toy was actually a circuit board, ready to be used and experimented with. Harry reached out to touch one of the tree's branches, pushing a tiny spark of magic into it and watched as it stood up taller, darkened again with life.

"Santa?"

He turned around to look out at the staircase behind him, seeing the young boy standing at the foot of it. The boy had soft brown eyes and short dark hair and he looked up at Harry, scraping a hand over his eyes like he thought he was dreaming. The boy was wearing pajama bottoms and a top, decorated with a circular shield. He looked like he was at least seven years old, but definitely not ten yet.

Harry raised an eyebrow and then walked over to kneel in front of the boy. "Hello Anthony."

"'M Tony. Are you really Santa?"

"Yes, I am. You should be asleep, kiddo."

"Couldn't sleep. I wanted to leave milk and cookies out for you but dad didn't like that."

"Ah. Don't worry. I don't take offense at that," Harry whispered, reaching out a hand to ruffle Tony's hair. "Come on. Let's get you back to bed."

"Don't wanna."

"It's Christmas Tony. You don't want to disappoint your parents."

"All I do is disappoint my dad but I don't want to disappoint my mom. Okay."

Harry frowned and reached out a gloved hand. Tony reached out for him, fitting his smaller fingers into Harry's and led the way, pulling him up the stairs. Tony yawned several times before stopping before the last door on the right and Harry smiled softly at him, scooping him up easily. Tony easily burrowed into him, breathing deeply, as Harry nudged the door back open and walked over to the bed.

He lowered Tony down onto the bed and lifted the covers over him, tucking him in, and stood up. "Good night, Tony Stark. Merry Christmas and sweet dreams."

Harry stepped back and walked out of the hallway, back down the stairs and into the fireplace. He raised the now empty bag and let it take him back up to the roof, jumping out of the chimney and stepping into the sleigh. The reindeer all turned their heads to him and he nodded, pushed a strand of white hair back behind an ear and flicked the reins.

"Merry Christmas to all!"

AN: I just watched the Santa Clause[my traditional holiday movie] so this was at least a little bit inspired by that.