The half century had been lonely and to be honest I welcomed death as an old friend just as my ancestors had done before me.

Ginny, my wife, friend and soul mate, had passed on to the next great adventure just after she'd turned one hundred years old leaving me alone, again. In ways it reminded me of my parents dying almost one hundred years before: the people I loved most leaving me. But in others it was different. I still had Hermione, though Ron had past five years before his sister, and her companionship helped me through the troubling nights that followed Ginny's departure. Though Hermione passed on only another five years after that. The main difference was that Ginny and my other friends hadn't died to save me and for that I was incredibly thankful even if it meant that they died naturally instead.

Of course I also had my children: James, Albus and Lily. They visited regularly as their old man kept getting older. They juggled their own spouses and children along with checking on their father, little old me, which never failed to warm my heart.

But of course they had their time as well, and I knew this better than most. James was first only to be followed by his brother not a year later. Lily was still hanging on, though the wear of age was showing on her beautiful face. I was always told I took the death of my sons hard, harder than I'd ever taken Ginny's, Ron's or Hermione's. Seeing my own children die in front of me almost tore me apart, I almost started to envy my wife and friend's demise.

Even my grandchildren were nearing the age where most wizards neared their end and with Lily's passing just the year before I had never been or felt more alone.

Throughout the years I'd done many things just to relieve the boredom. After leaving the auror corps I was promoted to the head of the DMLE, I'd held the position for fifteen years before finally throwing in the towel. I'd been told I was a favourite to be the next Minister of Magic but like my one time Headmaster, I never wanted the job. Too much pressure and too much exposure to the media.

After leaving the ministry, I'd dipped my hands into the Potter's ancestral vault and bought myself a quidditch team. Puddlemere United had received a lot of media attention with my status as a former war hero and now ex-DMLE head being in charge and with that came extra sponsorship that allowed the one time middle-of-league-table to be able to fight it out with the best for the league title as well as european competitions. After a couple of years I gave up the running of the team to and let James and Lily try their hands at running the team, trusting the two of them to do what was right for the team and their family.

At the age of sixty, I decided to turn my hand back to teaching only remembering fond memories of teaching the DA, besides I was bored of my semi-retirement. I applied for the Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching post and got it with seemingly no competition. I taught alongside my long time friend Neville Longbottom, who taught Herbology, and my son, Albus who taught transfiguration. I was made headmaster in my eighties ruling over my son, as well as the students, who was the then head of Gryffindor house.

With Ginny's death, it all changed. I left Hogwarts leaving a recommendation for my son, Albus, to replace me as headmaster with the board of governors.

With no wife and my friends dropping like flies, I turned my hand magical experimentation. I became an animagus, an old species of wolf called a dire wolf that had long been extinct, I knew this would have made Moony, Padfoot and Prongs proud. I found a thirteenth use of dragon's blood, it could be used to stabilise magic around muggle technology if the correct runes were drawn with it. I created a variant of a quick quotes quill, that instead of being dipped in ink would be dipped into memories extracted from the minds of anyone who used it, with my design patented I was able to make a lot of money as people rushed to get a hold of one to write their books describing the lives or teaching methods. I created spells to disarm and bind an opponent in one action, to enable a wizard to take over the mind of a non-magical creature remotely and to give stone a liquid like consistency. The last of which my son and successor as the headmaster, Albus, had informed me that it had become a favorite for those looking to prank others within the hallowed halls of Hogwarts. I tried my hand at landscaping, reshaping the Hogwarts ground, making the black lake have cliffs around the far side, Potter Manor gained a river and lake, though creating a permanent water source took me a whole week to recover from and Puddlemere United now also had their own magical forest surrounding the stadium. I'd even come up with a hypothesis linking magical power and longevity of life which according to my niece and unspeakable, Rose Weasley, was a project she was leading the investigation within the ministry's department of mysteries.

But in the eve of my life I couldn't find distraction any longer from the fact I was missing all those I'd loved or to fill the never ending hole of loneliness no longer. And, with the passing of my beloved Lily, my little girl, I knew I had to leave this world soon.

Some people had hailed me as the next Albus Dumbledore, no doubt because of both of our work at Hogwarts and experimentation with dragon's blood as well as our fights with dark lords, though I never did think the comparison matched up for those closer to the picture. While I would always admired Dumbledore I knew the man had faults just as surely as he knew he himself had faults, and with these in mind I was sure we weren't a like: I really knew that I couldn't have made the calls the old man had taken in the wars and the peace time between them at the time, even if I appreciate them now. He earnt my respect, if only for his willingness to take the choices into his own hands and do what he thought was best for everyone, something I only learnt when I became head of the DMLE and was then reinforced by my time as Headmaster.

Certain things stuck with me over the years, but one thing stood right above them all: killing wasn't always the worst option, sometimes even the best. The aurors taught me this and it was only reinforced when my young family started to grow: I would do anything to make sure they were safe.

So I laid down in my bed for what I hoped would be the last time, hoping I at that I would at last be reunited with Ginny, my friends, Ron Hermione and Neville, my children, James, Albus and Lily. I bet they build a statue of me was all that past through my head as I drifted off for what I hoped would be the last time feeling myself shudder at the very idea of it.

I recognised the vast and empty the place I was now standing in but I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

It was the extremely clean, extremely white version - like even Aunt Petunia would be shocked, that's how clean it was - it was King's Cross station, or at least my imaginary in between life and death version of King's Cross station.

I looked around and found that, like before, I wasn't alone. Though this time it wasn't the bearded Albus Dumbledore I met from beyond the grave, it was a woman.

A woman I didn't recognise.

A naked woman I didn't recognise.

Looking down at myself I noticed I was also naked. Though thankfully I was looking as I did in my twenties instead of my pre-death one hundred and fifty two year old glory.

Now this wasn't particularly embarrassing, a reporter had managed a picture me in the buff when Ginny and I were on our honeymoon and by the next morning everyone from Molly Weasley to Narcissa Malfoy and Lavender Brown to Daphne Greengrass had seen my junk and of course this wasn't the first time I'd seen a naked woman, even if you didn't count my wife.

Both myself and my red headed lover found early on in our relationship that both of us had enjoyed a having a bit of a kink in our desires and the following experimentation in our bedroom. And with my own naked picture appearing on the front cover acting as an open invitation: Kinky experimentation was what we got.

I examined the woman more closely and found she was like a walking juxtaposition. A seductive sway of her hips classing with the business like expression. Her deathly white skin fitting strikingly with hair so black it reminded me of the endless void I'd reluctantly studied in Hogwart's astronomy classes.

I was intrigued. And no matter what she said next I had decided she was a much better bust than my last King's Cross companion, Albus Dumbledore. I had never wanted to see my old headmaster in his birthday suit.

"Umm, Hello?" I said questioningly, not really knowing how to introduce myself, people had always known who I was when I was alive, but stuck with the classic, "I'm Harry Po…"

"I know who you are." The woman said. "I've known you and waited for you for a long time."

At this point I was starting to think that maybe Albus Dumbledore in his birthday suit would have been better.

"You've always been a point of interest for me, you should know. After all we are so close." The woman said one corner of her lips curling upwards as she spoke of how close we'd been, which I did not only not remember, and I would have hoped that I would remember a woman who looked this good, but found the way she was talking to me incredibly creepy as well.

"I'm sorry but I don't recognize you at all." I said, taking a step back as the woman stepped forwards.

"No, I guess you would not." The woman conceded, her face falling. "We never did meet. So close but you never quite bridged the gap."

I still wasn't getting it and I had a feeling that she didn't like that very much. I blinked slowly hopping that my ignorance would be noted.

The woman sighed. I'd been noticed, YAY, I internally celebrated before realising that celebrating one's own stupidity and ignorance was an entirely ridiculous thing to do.

"I am Death, young Potter." She said.

Oh.

This was different; very different from last time.

I'd met Death. The ever present, unstoppable certainty that ended alls existence: and before today I thought I'd seen weird when Luna actually found a crumple-horned Snorkack in sweden.

"Soooooo, do you go on adventures a lot?" I asked, the old quote from Dumbledore, 'To the organised mind death is only the next great adventure, ringing around my head.

She wasn't impressed.

"No mister Potter, I do not go on adventures, due to the fact that I cannot take a physical form in the mortal plane of any universe." The newly introduced Death said, sounding only majorly pissed off that I would say something so stupid.

"But isn't Death always supposed to be a man?" I asked, thinking of old legends and pictures at Hogwarts aloud. They always showed Death, or Thanatos, as a man with huge black wings who brought death with a single touch.

This also seemed to annoy her.

"And why Mister Potter would I be a man?" Death said, her voice getting higher and louder, shaking with anger. "I do not have a physical form, do you think I was born, mortal? No! I simply existed, just as I always will exist and always have existed, just as fate and the energies that control the existence of everything just existed. There is no beginning. There is no end. I am a woman because I choose to be!"

I had realised that I'd said the wrong thing just after she asked her first question, which I took to be rhetorical because I didn't want to answer.

Instead of opening my mouth and possibly being more of an arsehole to the omnipresent Death, I kept it shut and didn't say a word. One of my best decisions.

"Despite, your inherent idiocy," I knew I should have kept my mouth shut, she hates me! Death hates me! "I have use of you." That sounded ominous.

"Annnnd what would that be?" I asked when she hadn't elaborated.

Her mouth started to curl into a smirk and I knew something not entirely safe or advisable was about to go down.

"I have need you. You are to be reborn into a new world, into a new family to change the course of this world's future events." Death explained.

Not really much information, I thought hoping by not speaking Death would offer up more useful tidbits.

She didn't.

Deciding I'd ask for information instead, I broke the silence. "So why am I going to… wherever it is I'm going to?"

"You're going because you are the only one able to go." She said.

"What because only I have the necessary skills to complete whatever you want me to do." I said, feeling my ego get a little bigger.

"No." Well that took care of my thoughts about being important. "You're going because of the pact made with the fates a long time ago. The pact states that only the person who could unite all the hallows could be reborn."

"So, I'm the Master of Death then, like the legend says?" I asked, maybe this will be good for my ego after all.

"Not really." Death replied. "That was more of a marketing thing, a more appropriate title would Death's follower, or minion if you prefer. From now on you go where I tell you and perform my bidding."

Nope, that just crushed it, I was pretty much Death's bitch

"By uniting the Hallows all you have done is sign your self into an eternity of servitude to me." Death explained, a gleeful look upon her face. "So from now on your my… tool, yes that's a good way of putting it." she mumbled to herself. "Of course I didn't need it to be you, every tool has it's uses you just have to know how to do so. Luckily for all, you're an easy tool to use." She had a shit eating grin on her face as if she'd won an Oscar and found out they were also giving her a lifetime supply of ice cream, which is a lot if you're immortal.

"Yay." I chimed in, sarcasm dripping from my words like the chocolate sauce she was going to put on that ice cream.

"Yes so anyway, you're going to be reborn any second now." Death said as casually as you'd ask for an ice cream from one of those trucks that play the annoying song which is also so good at the same time because of all the delicious ice cream it has to offer.

Maybe I was too hung up on this ice cream thing?

Death hadn't noticed my temporary ice cream thought induced mini-coma and was still speaking. "You'll be born into a country called Westeros. It's divided into seven kingdoms, but you'll learn the smaller details as you grow up. They speak what you call English, or rather you'll think they speak english, but really I've manipulated your brain a little so the different language works. You should also know that I've hidden the hallows and one other… item that I thought you would like for you to find, you should be able to find them before you have real need of them" She smiled at me.

I definitely didn't like her.

"Good luck." she said seeming almost sincere.

Everything went black.

It was dark.

It was hot.

It was tight.

I didn't know where I was.

UPDATED 25/5/16 FOR GRAMMAR AS WELL AS DEATH'S SPEECH