Disclaimer: As always, I do not own the characters nor Harry Potter itself, it belongs to Ms. J.K. Rowling - Remember feedback is always welcomed and encouraged!
Note: Once again - I use Ze and Hir ; gender-neutral pronouns ; because Death is genderless and the only time Death has a gender (aka Male) is when he's in his human form and that's usually only with Draco. Also, most dialouge and scenes are the same because this is their time together through Harry's POV.

When Death met 10 year old Draco Malfoy, ze was surprised for the first time in a long time.

Sure, there have been a few others who were alive when they saw hir, but that always meant they were next and if they weren't, it was only a matter of time before they went insane. However, those had all been adults well past their 30s. Ze had never encountered a living child.

"Well, that's rare," ze said as he looked down at the small blonde standing next to the bed that held his dead aunt. He had been expecting to collect Bellatrix Lestrange's soul for a few weeks, but he didn't expect to see Draco Malfoy walk through the door.

"Hello?" Draco's voice called out, soft and cautious, turning in a circle as his eyes scanned the area. "Who's there?"

Death laughed to hirself, this child was definitely interesting.

"I'm here to take your aunt, Draco," ze said, now looking down at Bellatrix's body, though his eyes wandered over the blonde every few seconds.

"How do you know my name?" he asked and when his eyes widened in fear, Death couldn't help the small frown that appeared on hir face. Ze didn't want to frighten him.

"I'm Death, I know everyone's name," ze said with a small laugh, hoping to lighten up the mood and relax Draco. It seemed to work as Draco looked surprised, but no longer scared. Instead, he was leaning on the bed, only mere inches away from the blood stained sheets. Ze didn't want the boy to get his hands dirty and used some of his old magic to compel the young boy, "Now I suggest you go back to bed before you get any blood on you."

Ze watched as Draco's eyes glazed over just a bit before he started walking out of the room. As soon as the blonde was out of the room, Death sighed and began his work.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Hermione, one of the reapers and Death's good friends, joked once she saw hir, well once she saw hir black cloak float to her after ze dropped off Bellatrix at her destination.

"How can you tell?" ze asked with the same joking tone. Ze knew how she could tell how ze was feeling without needing to see hir face, ze showed hir emotions very well through hir posture.

"So what happened?" she asked, fingers absentmindedly playing with the staff of her scythe.

"Draco Malfoy, the nephew of my newest arrival," ze said and continued at Hermione's raised eyebrow, "he could see me and I was just surprised. I mean, he's only 10."

"Well, the Malfoys are pretty strange," was all Hermione said before she was called for a job and whisked away.

Death said and summoned hir own scythe. Ze didn't use it too often, but according to hir book of the dead, it looked like the next few years were going to be busy.

Ze never expected to meet Draco Malfoy 4 years later. What surprised hir even more was that this time, the innocent looking boy ze first saw was involved in the murder.

The entire area plummeted into darkness as soon as ze got there, just like it always did. Ze looked down at the scene and grimaced, Draco's goons did a number on the kid, especially since it was to the point of death. Ze couldn't even recognize his face from the one in the book because it was too swelled up.

"You again," Death addressed Draco. He half expected him to end up in a mental hospital, but never in their current situation. "I don't see you as a murderer," ze admitted.

Ze watched as Draco stood up from where he was originally crouching next to the body, brushing off whatever dust he saw on his uniform.

"I didn't physically kill him, I just watched," the blonde looked up at the sky, more specifically at Death since ze was above them, and spoke.

"Yes, but you're the mastermind behind his death. That's still classified as a murderer," ze said with a frown.

Draco shrugged at his statement. "I don't need a filthy rat trying to start a rebellion in my school."

That angered hir. Ze liked to read up on the victims before taking them to limbo and Zacharias Smith was a good kid who grew up in a bad family. He was innocent and that's what Death hated the most, the killing of innocent people.

"You're a git," ze said with an angry and frustrated sigh. He had to confess that Draco wasn't that bad to look at, but his attitude was horrid.

"And why am I a git?"

Ze ignored the question and glare, "To be specific, you're a power-hungry, selfish, git." Ze felt a small pang of guilt at the harshness of hir words when he saw a flash of hurt on Draco's face, but the words kept tumbling out of hir mouth, "I hope I don't see you again and just a suggestion, bury the body deep into the ground." With that said, ze disappeared, the sky clearing up once again, and appeared in front of Hermione who was bent over a book.

"What's wrong?" She asked worriedly, ze knew that she was questioning hir sagged shoulders and bent head.

Ze shook hir head and walked past her, ze needed some time alone.

Death didn't see Draco at all the next year and ze felt upset at not meeting him, even if they only met twice. Ze had to stop hirself several times from popping into Draco's room in order to talk to him. He was Death and being Death was a huge job, ze couldn't have a mere human boy distracting hir.

Ze grumbled to hirself on hir way to hir newest victim, some alcoholic who was murdered in an alleyway. Ze let the darkness blanket the area and hir eyes widened when ze saw the crown of blonde holding a bloody glass shard.

"Draco," ze said. While ze was happy at seeing the blonde once again, ze couldn't help the disappointment that flooded hir, ze was hoping that Draco had only been a witness once again.

"It was self-defense," Draco said defensively, dropping the glass.

"You didn't have to stab him until his last breath though."

"He could've done it to some other helpless girl later on, I was helping!" Draco's voice rose and Death sighed once again. Ze was right, there were a few girls that were in hir book that were supposed to die because of the now dead drunk in front of Draco. He didn't feel any guilt when the alcoholic's name, Alec Eaton, appeared in hir book of the dead.

"I can't believe I'm still talking to you," hir said softly, no longer feeling disappointed at Draco's actions. Instead hir felt a small sense of pride and something else, but ze pushed those emotions aside.

"What do you look like?" Draco asked unexpectedly and Death chuckled.

"I don't really look like anything, I'm just Death," ze spoke honestly with a small smile on his face that had appeared after seeing a smile on Draco's face as well. "I could take on a form if I so wished, but basically I'm the darkness around you."

Ze usually didn't tell people that, then again no one ever asked. Ze did take on a form when in his own realm and meeting with reapers, though his midnight black cloak covered all his features, and he indeed was the darkness that covered any death scene.

"If I asked, would you?" Draco asked and ze watched as the blonde wrapped his arms around himself. For some reason, Death felt hir heart skip a beat – even if he didn't actually have a heart.

He thought for a minute. Would he show his form to some human that killed an innocent child only a year before?

"If you really wanted me to… then yes," hir replied and he felt another smile tug at his lips when he heard Draco sigh in relief and tighten his grip on his arms.

"Then, I'm asking you."

"Very well." Ze closed his eyes and concentrated on the form he wanted to take on, he could feel hirself becoming solid in front of Draco, the darkness wrapping around hir to create hir usual pitch black cloak. Ze opened hir eyes and moved hir fingers – he was solid and very much male, just as he wanted.

Death brought his hands up to his hood, the tan skin contrasting a bit with the black hood as he pulled it down. He looked straight at Draco and laughed to himself at the awestruck look on the blonde's face and the sharp intake of breath the other took when their eyes meet.

Deciding that they could have a proper conversation in his human form some other time because he had other victims to collect, Death subtly waved his hand and he was gone, Draco transported safely out of the alley.

They meet four more times that same year and Death no longer felt anger towards Draco now that the blonde was committing the murders himself. He wasn't killing innocent people anymore and Death appreciated that.

The first three meetings, Draco bombarded him with questions about almost everything – from his powers to his favorite color – and there were the few times during those meetings where Death caught Draco staring with a slight glazed look and he couldn't help but feel fuzzy inside whenever he caught his companion staring at him.

During their fourth meeting at the back of bank, Death felt bold and moved from his usual spot next to the bodies to Draco's side, deliberately making sure their shoulders were touching.

"Why are you killing criminals?" Death asked, gaze fixed on the motionless bodies of the bank robbers. He had an idea of why, but he wanted to hear it from Draco's lips.

"I can't kill civilians," Draco said and Death could feel the blonde's intense stare on his face, he didn't mind though. "I'm a Malfoy and we have an image to uphold, so I can't go around killing random people. Plus, you're pretty against innocent people dying before their so I'm respecting your wishes." Death felt his lips twitch up at that, he was right that Draco was avoiding innocent civilians for his sake. "Also, I'm completing my good guy quota by getting rid of the psychotic wankers in London." At that, Death snorted and brought his hand over his mouth, a smile hiding behind it, as he tried to stifle his laughter.

He wanted nothing more than to spend even more time with the blonde next to him, who wore a matching grin.

Draco's schedule became extremely hectic the next year while Death's wasn't as filled as it was last year.

Without hir blonde companion to keep hir company, ze spent most of hir time flitting from reaper to reaper, frequently chatting with Hermione and Ron, another reaper and Hermione's boyfriend.

"You've been awfully happy this past year, mate," Ron pointed out, twirling his scythe around as he walked behind Hermione, who was sitting in a large chair, book in her lap.

Death shrugged, looking over hir book of death as hir fingers inattentively made motions in the air, hir scythe moving to the patterns.

"It's because our dear friend Death is in love," Ginny, Ron's partner-in-crime and self-declared little sister, teased as she appeared behind the red head, who dropped his scythe in surprise.

"Bloody Hell, Ginny! Don't just pop out of nowhere," Ron scolded her as he snapped his fingers, bringing the grey scythe into his hand, while the other bounced over to Hermione's side.

"Is it Draco?" Hermione asked, surprise clear on her face as she looked up from her book and at the hooded figure in front of them.

Death groaned, ze did not want hir friends to be interrogating him about hir relationship with Draco. Especially not Ginny, she could get a bit annoying when it came to hir life outside of collecting dead people.

"Wait, wait, I'm right?" Ginny asked, equally surprised, "I was just joking. Are you really in love?! Ow!" she whined the last part, hands on her head after Ron lightly bonked her head.

"I don't want to discuss my relationship with Draco to you guys," Death stated, scythe now in hir hand and book closed as ze looked up at the trio in front of hir.

They got the message and backed off, though questions about Draco did pop up every now and then.

Near the end of that year, London's crime spiked up and after the New Year, the crime skyrocketed, making Death's meetings with Draco more frequent.

He could tell that after eight years of knowing each other, Draco had run out of questions, so they filled their time with friendly conversation.

They became considerably closer after Draco's tenth victim that year. Death had become even bolder as he casually brushed his hand against Draco's while moving to stand next to him.

"You know," Death started, looking up at the black sky with his hood only slightly on his head, "you make my job so much more difficult than it needs to be."

He felt Draco's eyes shift from the bloody arsonist in front of them to him, confusion towards his statement quite obvious. He could also tell that his companion was trying to figure him out, but he was Death, and while Draco definitely surprised him more than he ever has been since a few centuries ago, he's not that easy to read – except for Hermione who could knew a lot about a person from one glance.

"Let's go out for coffee or something," he finally said and changed his gaze from the sky to Draco's shining silver eyes. He had to admit that he undoubtedly felt attracted to Draco, with pale blonde hair that sparkled to him in the moonlight and gleaming silver orbs, and he could tell that Draco returned his feelings, so why not take a step forward in their relationship.

"Is that possible?" Draco asked and Death chuckled to himself, he could feel that the other wanted to immediately say yes, but wanted to make sure.

"Dray, I'm Death," he answered and smiled down at him, a smile that he reserved only for that beaming face looking up at him. "I can do anything."

"So are you asking me out on a date?" Draco asked teasingly, his cheeks tinted pink, and Death could feel his own cheeks heat up at the question.

"Yes, I – Death – am asking you out on a date, no matter how ridiculous that sounds."

Draco laughed and grinned at him, Death couldn't help his own smile grow at the heavenly sound. "Where and when?"

"You'll know when the time comes," Death's smile faltered a bit. He had read ahead in his book of the dead and, after conversing with The Fates, a sudden ailment was to spread across Europe, filling up his time for quite a long time. He knew he couldn't ruin The Fates job, but they promised him that they'd keep Draco safe.

"By the way," he said, cutting off Draco because he knew the blonde had seen the slip and was worried, "after eight years of knowing you, I never figured out why."

"Why what?" Draco looked up at him, the worry still there, but overpowered by curiosity.

"Why did you want to keep meeting me? Most people are usually afraid of Death," he said. And usually end up in an asylum he added in his head, but kept his mouth shut.

Draco stayed silent and only offered a smile in response. Judging from the emotions in his eyes, Death knew that Draco had an answer, he just didn't want to tell him and Death was fine with that.

Just as ze predicted, the next year the mysterious illness plagued the country and people were dying left and right. Death and the reapers were working non-stop, zooming from one place to another, collecting the dead and bringing them to limbo – Death was surprised limbo Heaven and Hell didn't become overcrowded with all the new people.

After Draco's eighteenth birthday – June 5, Death memorized – Draco fell ill and his name appeared in Death's book of the dead. A lump formed in hir throat and hir nonexistent heart stopped when ze saw the name Draco Malfoy written neatly next to his picture one day and ze immediately raced to find The Fates.

Ze panicked and yelled for a while until one of The Fates, Luna, calmed hir down, reassuring hir that it was probably a fault seeing as they were now working to make Draco's health stop declining and instead get better.

Ze left after thanking the three sisters and left to continue his job in peace, now that ze knew Draco was safe and healthy.

The plague lasted for 5 years and it had been 6 years since Death's last meeting with Draco. Ze wouldn't be surprised if the blonde had forgotten about hir or was enraged with hir, six years is an awfully long time to wait for a coffee date with Death.

However, he did see Draco heading into town with two of his friends and they were headed in the direction of a small, but fairly nice coffee shop. Smiling to hirself, he took on his form behind the building near Draco.

He checked his clothing, form fitting jeans and a t-shirt, and ruffled his hair – and put on glasses just as an extra touch from Ginny – and walked out into the crowd. He walked slowly towards the coffee shop and glanced behind him, eyes locking on Draco and his friends.

Quietly snapping his fingers, he used his magic to make Draco look over at his direction. When he knew the blonde saw his head, he looked forward and tried to not smile at the sound of footsteps running behind him.

He felt a hand catch his wrist and someone turning him around. Death looked back at Draco, who was trying to catch his breath, and he felt his heart – which he did have now that he was a 'human' – start pounding. Oh how he missed his blonde companion.

"Death," Draco breathed out quietly and Death smiled at him, confirming his suspicions.

"Draco, good thing you caught me. I found the perfect place for our coffee date," Death said casually and he laughed to himself when the blonde blushed at his words. "Oh and since we're out in the open, might as well call me by my human name."

"Which is?"

He opened his mouth to reply when a female voice screamed Draco's name, a girl and boy running towards them. All he did was stare at them as Draco straightened his back, though he stood impossibly close to Death's side and Death could feel his cheeks heat up at the proximity.

"Draco! You can't just run off like that!" the girl scolded him and Death felt happy that Draco had friends that truly worried about him. He relaxed at the knowledge of Draco being in good hands when he was away.

"Who's this?" the boy asked, his eyes raking over Death's body. Death shifted a bit, uncomfortable under the mischievous stare directed at him.

"Harry Potter, nice to meet you," Death introduced himself and smiled – a small, conservative, and much different from the one he gives Draco smile – at the two in front of them.

He saw the boy silently ask Draco a question and Draco glanced up at Death before smiling as well.

"He's an old friend," Draco said, the back of his hand brushing against Harry's and the other couldn't help but smile at the gesture.

An old friend indeed he thought, before slipping his hand into Draco's and giving it a light squeeze.