Harry Potter X Death Note, Shinigami!Harry(sort of)

Chapter 1: Splinter

It was like an earthquake, or hurricane, or any other natural disaster that only he could feel. The humans around him went about their business as if nothing had happened. As though their perfect, little, glass world hadn't just shattered and into a thousand tiny, razor-sharp pieces.

They had no idea. No idea that everything had just changed.

He rose off the bench and thanked the old lady for her company. She was a tiny, frail woman, but her spirit had been strong and her heart kind. She deserved the peace afterlife was sure to bring her. She had been alone here far too long.

She did not reply, his powers were already affecting her perception of him. She smiled down at the sparrows picking away at the breadcrumbs they had given them. He glanced at the numbers above her head. He wished he could have stayed with her through it, but this matter was too urgent to wait even for a moment. He needed to speak with the King.

With one last smile at the old woman, he vanished on the spot. No one in the park noticed. Nor did they notice when the kind old woman's eyes slid shut and her breathing stopped.

"Good morning, everyone," Noguchi-sensei said warmly as he walked to the front of the classroom. Light responded with "Good morning" at the exact appropriate level of enthusiasm. He winced slightly at the shrill greeting his classmates gave.

"We have a new student joining us today," the teacher continued. He turned to the door and beckoned a boy inside.

He was a foreigner, Light noticed immediately. His eyes, framed by round spectacles, were a shade of green he'd never seen naturally on a Japanese person. The boy's hair was a dark, inky black and completely wild.

Light frowned as he examined how the teen was dressed. He wore the same uniform as all the male students but with a few questionable alterations. He'd loosened his tie and his shirt was untucked. He'd even left the top buttons undone, revealing a hint of a silver chain around his neck. In place of the standard tan pants, the boy wore old frayed jeans. For some reason these obvious breaches of dress code seemed to go unnoticed by Noguchi-sensei.

The foreign boy walked to the front of the class – his hands stuffed in his pockets, and looking completely at ease. In front of Light, two girls turned to each other, giggling over how cute they thought the new boy was.

"Hello," the boy said in lightly accented Japanese. "My name is Potter Harry. I'll be joining you for the remainder of the year."

Potter was given an empty seat at the front of the class. The teacher dove into his morning lecture, and the excitement over the new addition quickly faded. Light let his thoughts drift back to the Death Note that sat safely in the desk draw in his room.

'Just suppose I gave this notebook to someone else, could they do it?' Light thought, looking at his classmates who were bemoaning the difficulty of schoolwork. Several had fallen asleep. One girl was trying to be subtle as she texted a boy in the next row. Light scoffed at them, children. Any of them would have run screaming if they'd picked up the Death Note. 'Nobody would have the guts…but I do.' Light closed his eyes, tuning out the world around him as he fell deeper into thought.

Light wasn't immature like them. He was an honor student – a genius. He was bound for the best school in Japan after graduation. He hadn't been afraid to test out the Death Note.

'I could do it… Not just that, I'm the only one who could do it.' It was true. Who else could have killed those men? Saved those people? Criminals were the scum of the earth. All too often the law failed to deal with them properly – permanently. Every day innocent people were made victims and no one stepped in to stop it. With the Death Note Light could change that. He could change everything.

'So I'll do it! I'm using the Death Note to change the world.' Light declared to himself, exhilaration coursing through him. A plan began to simmer in his mind. He became distracted when he heard Noguchi-sensei order the class to open their textbooks. Light opened his eyes and froze.

The new student, Potter, was looking at him. No, not just looking. The other boy was staring at him. The foreigner boy wasn't even attempting to be discreet about it. His whole body was turned in his seat in order to get a better look at Light. Potter made no move to look away, nor did he appear ashamed at having been caught.

Light glanced at Noguchi-sensei, who, despite standing directly in front of Potter's desk, gave no reprimand. In fact, the teacher did not appear to even notice. Light frowned as he looked back at Potter. The two remained locked in an odd staring contest for several seconds. The corner of Potter's mouth pulled up into a half smile and he finally turned away.

Light blinked at the mess of hair that was the back of Potter's head. He had no idea what that had been about.

Potter did not look at him for rest of the day, nor the day after that. Not once during the week did Potter look at him or anyone really.

The odd boy perplexed Light. His clothes, he was certain, were the same every day. So either the boy was poor or he simply did not care much for personal appearance.

He never saw the other boy write or even pick up a pencil, and yet Potter was always the first to hand in completed assignments. He was even faster than Light at completing a pop quiz, much to his annoyance.

The thing that puzzled Light most as he observed Potter, was that no one else did. The girls that had giggled and whispered about Potter seemed to have forgotten the boy entirely. He would have thought them merely fickle in their interest, but they were not the only ones. The teachers never called on him. The other students never spoke to him. It was as though no one else knew the boy existed.

Potter was a mystery, but one that was easily forgotten once Light returned home.

Every night he used the Death Note to punish criminals. All around the world criminals that had evaded the law were dying of heart attacks. It would only be a matter of time before people took notice. Soon everyone would know someone was passing judgment on the wicked, and wiping out the filth.

Light was changing the world…

"I'm home," Light announced as he closed the door behind him.

"Light, is that you?" his mother called. She rounded the corner and stood before him expectantly.

"Oh yeah." Light reached into his bag to retrieve the slip of paper. "Here," he said handing it to her. She skimmed it quickly before finding what she was looking for.

"Oh my!" she exclaimed with a bright smile, "You placed first again – and these practice college entrance exams are nationwide!"

"Uh-huh," Light agreed not really listening. It really wasn't that much of a surprise. The test hadn't even been very difficult. He passed her and made his way up the stairs. "Well, I'll be studying so don't bother me, okay?"

"Okay, dear," his mother said. "Oh, Light, is there anything you've been wanting?" she asked, probably wanting to give him some sort of reward for his test placement. "Anything at all – just let me know."

"No, Mom," Light said without looking back. 'I've already got what I want…'

Light shut and locked the door to his bedroom. He leaned against it, letting out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. Then set in motion.

He flicked on the television and his computer. Light pulled the drawer of his desk open. At the very top sat an inconspicuous black notebook. On the cover, in spidery English lettering, read the words "Death Note". Light lifted the Death Note, holding it in both hands with great care. It had been five days since he'd picked it up off the ground. It still amazed him how much power he now held.

His lips curled and a low laugh built in his chest. "Heh. Heh, heh-"

"You like it, hmm?" Light jumped at the voice. The Death Note fell from his grasp. It landed on the desk with a light thud.

Sitting cross-legged on Light's bed, with his face resting in his palms, looking for all the world like he owned the place, was Potter. He was still wearing the same ratty jeans and loose tie over his untucked shirt. His blazer had been abandoned though, and his feet were covered only in plain white socks. "Well," Potter continued, oblivious to Light's shock, "I suppose you must like it to have used it as much as you have."

"I– You– how did–?" Light stumbled over his words. His mind was reeling, trying to figure out exactly how the foreign boy had managed to get into his room. And how he'd done it without Light noticing.

"I followed you in," Potter said, waving away the question like it was obvious. He then crawled across the bed and, stretching himself as far as he could, plucked the Death Note off the desk. Potter flicked through the name filled pages. Light tensed, if Potter saw the rules and figured out Light had killed those criminals… He hadn't tested suicide yet but he bet it would work. Potter Harry – or Harry Potter as western names were written – best write it both ways just in case.

"Hmm," Potter said turning another page. Light took a step forward ready to snatch the Death Note away from him.

"Why all heart attacks?" Potter asked with what sounded like genuine curiosity, and Light stopped in his tracks. Potter glanced up at him, his eyes even more shockingly green up close. He lift the Death Note to Light. "You only chose a cause of death, 'Traffic Accident', once. The rest you let die by heart attacks. Why?"

Light remained silent. What was going on? How did Potter know how the Death Note worked? Light was certain he hadn't read the rules. Potter waited expectantly, until he saw Light was not going to respond. He sighed.

"I'm not going to turn you in, you know," the boy said and set the Death Note back on the desk. "It's not my place to interfere with human affairs."

"Human?" Light repeated with dawning realization. "Are– are you saying you're not human?" Light examined the boy more closely. He certainly looked human. He was thin, not particularly tall, looked to be Light's age, and pale enough that Light could see blue veins through his skin. He wasn't bad looking, his face was symmetrical, but he had some obvious flaws. Light could even spy some scar tissue hidden under that wild black hair.

"Well, not exactly," Potter said, playing with the silver chain the hung around his neck and disappeared under his shirt. "I'm– well, I guess you'd call me a Shinigami."

"Shinigami!" Light breathed out the word. He eased himself into the desk chair. He hadn't really believed in them, but now, with the Death Note…

"Of a sort," Potter confirmed with a smile.

Light swallowed hard.

"And this Death Note," Light began, lifting the notebook, "it's your, isn't it?" The shinigami looked thoughtful.

"Hmm, yes and no." Potter smiled at Light's confused expression and began to explain. "That Note originally belonged to another shinigami, Ryuk. He was the one that dropped it in the human world, don't ask me why. Every shinigami has a Death Note, but they are only allowed one. Somehow Ryuk managed to trick the Shinigami King into giving him a second.

"I felt immediately that a Death Note had landed in the Human World and went to the Shinigami King. He was less than pleased to learn he'd been deceived. The King doesn't like being cheated," Potter grimaced, and shook his head. "And since I didn't have a Note, the King gave that one," Potter pointed to the Death Note in Light's hands, "to me, not that I really need it."

Potter shrugged. "So yeah, it is mine, but it's also yours."

"Mine?" Light asked in surprise.

The shinigami nodded. "Once a Death Note lands in the Human World it belongs here. And since you were the one who picked it, it belongs to you. So you can do with it whatever you want."

"Whatever I want?" Light asked in disbelief. "So there's no price to pay for using the Death Note?"

"I wouldn't say that. Everything has a price," Potter hand stilled around the silver chain. When he finally pulled his hand away, it seemed be with great effort. "It's said that humans who use the Death Note can never go to Heaven or Hell. But it's not like I'm going to steal your soul or anything," and that was all he seemed to have to say on the subject.

"Huh," that didn't sound so bad. "Hang on, there's one thing I don't understand."

"Hm?"

"If you're a shinigami why did you join my class? What was the point?"

"The point was to observe you, see what kind of person you are," the shinigami said. "Since I'm going to be stuck with you I wanted to know what I'd be dealing with."

"What do you mean?"

"Since that's my Death Note you have I'm bound to follow you around until you die or give it up."

"Oh."

"Now, my question," Potter said sitting up. "Why did you kill those people with heart attacks?"

Light smiled. "If you don't specify a cause of death they die from a heart attack. That's the best thing about the Death Note." The shinigami tilted his head in confusion. "I've already covered the most vicious criminals, so now the level of atrocity is coming down. And every single one of them will die of a heart attack!" Light became more and more animated as he spoke. Potter was silent as he watched him. His face unreadable.

"Even a fool is going to notice that somebody is bumping off the bad guys. I'm going to make the world know I'm here. That somebody is passing righteous judgement on them! And then nobody will commit crimes anymore. The world will become a better place.

"And while the people who obviously deserve to be punished are dying of heart attacks… I'll gradually be killing off immoral people and people who harass others, through illness and accidents." Light's smile grew. "Even that will eventually be noticed by the idiot masses. They'll realize they'll die if they don't change their ways. I'll make this a world inhabited by people I decide are good!

"And I…," Light's eyes gleamed. "I will become the God of this new world!"

"Hmm," was all the shinigami said as he leaned back on Light's bed. And then, "Hey Light, do you have any apples?"

Chapter 1 End.

Yep, I'm continuing this! Stay tuned for more!