Author's Note: So I decided to try my hand at another RWBY/HP crossover. This one takes a post-hogwarts Harry into the world of Remnant. And while he is the "master of death," he is nowhere near close to being op or anything as he has no real combat training. Also, in case anyone is wondering, Harry will probably not become a student at Beacon.

Disclaimer: RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Productions. This work is non-profit fanfiction.

Harry was alone at the top of the astronomy tower, sitting on the small stairs that lead down to the observational platform. It was around noon and the sun was high in the sky, leaving his surroundings rather bright. Still, his thoughts were dark.

It had only been a week since The Battle of Hogwarts—a name the Daily Prophet had been quick to latch onto. Just yesterday, Harry had gone to the large-scale funeral for all of those who'd died, and he couldn't help but feel down. Each of the lives lost weighed heavily on his soul.

Objectively, he understood that he was just a single person. He couldn't—and shouldn't—bear the responsibility for all their deaths. It was Voldemort and his Death Eaters that killed them, after all.

Yet still, he couldn't help but feel like it was his fault in some way. Perhaps it was because of the prophecy. He was supposed to be the only one who could stop Voldemort. Maybe if he had been quicker, more lives could have been saved.

And maybe Sirius could have been saved, a traitorous part of his mind whispered.

Harry shook his head, banishing those thoughts, and stood up. He made his way over to the railings and looked out over at Hogwarts, allowing the sight to calm him. Despite the battle that had just passed, the place looked much better than before. Sure, there were still some signs of the battle—the broken bridge and the craters in the towers to name a few—but the fires were out, the bodies were gone, and much of the damage was already fixed.

The Professors and the helpers from the Ministry had done wonders to fix the place up, considering all the other things they had to be doing. And it really did make a difference. Things weren't back to normal, but to see Hogwarts slowly getting put back together, it made him hopeful for the future.

Harry let out a sigh and continued to let his gaze wander around Hogwarts, taking in the sight of the former battleground. Perhaps the castle would never be back to the way it was, but they would rebuild. Not only the castle but everything that had been lost due to Voldemort. And even though those that were lost couldn't be replaced, those that remain will still move forward. Hopefully towards a better future.

And maybe he could let go of the burden that weighed on his soul.

Harry allowed himself a small smile at the thought. It didn't last long, however, as his mind drifted to another problem. A problem that was currently in the pocket of his robes, resting there oh so inconspicuously.

Despite himself, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the long length of elder wood. He held it in his hands for a moment, examining the strange design of it. There were five clusters of what looked to be berries running down its length. The ones closer to the tip were smaller, while the ones closer to the handle were bigger.

Overall, it was unlike any wand Harry had ever seen, and he couldn't really think of why it looked like that—aside from aesthetics, of course, though in his opinion, it looked rather ugly. Still, it was the most powerful wand in existence.

And he hated it.

Harry frowned and a strong desire to snap the wand in half and chuck it over the railings filled him. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that it would have been pointless. No matter what he did, the wand would not leave him. Each and every time he destroyed or cast it aside, he would wake up the next day to find it there again. In some cases, it would appear back with him even sooner.

Harry gripped the wand tighter and glared at it harshly. He couldn't even have it taken from him by another person. No matter what, the wand wouldn't be destroyed and it wouldn't take someone else as its master. He was stuck with it. And still didn't understand why.

With a frustrated sigh, Harry tossed the wand behind him. It clattered loudly on the floor, but he didn't bother to look where it went. Instead, he kept mulling over what he knew, trying to figure out what made him different from all the previous owners.

After several moments of long, Harry's eye's narrowed as a thought occurred to him. It was something from the legend of The Deathly Hallows. According to what is known, the one who combined all three of the Hallows would become the master of death. And despite never having had all three of the Hallows at once, he was the last one to have owned each of the Hallow.

Could that be it?

Harry pushed back from the railing and started to pace. It was the only explanation he could think of, but not everything fit. Sure, he has had all the Hallows, but why was it the wand that kept coming back to him? Why didn't his stone come to him, or his cloak appear from where he left it?

As Harry thought that, two sounds resounded behind him at the same time. Without a seconds thought, he whipped out his wand from his holster and spun around, a spell on the tip of his tongue.

But there was no danger behind him. Instead, there were just two objects on the floor that had not been there before. One was a small diamond shape black stone, while the other was a very familiar old cloak.

"You've got to be kidding," Harry muttered, staring at the two offending objects in annoyance. Just when he had been thinking about them, they had suddenly appeared? Was this a sign that he was, in fact, the master of death?

Maybe...

At the very least, it was a sign that all the Hallows were linked to him, whether he liked it or not.

"Why can't things ever be simple?"

Harry took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes wearily.

After deciding to skip his final year at Hogwarts, he had thought his days of studying had been behind him. Now, however, he found himself at it again. Worst of all, this was mainly his own fault. If only he had chosen better electives at Hogwarts.

With a loud groan, Harry stretched his arms above his head before putting his glasses on and getting back to studying. The current subject he was working on was Ancient Runes. It was an interesting enough subject in small amounts, but days and days of working on it made it seem rather dull in his eyes.

Still, if he wanted to become a curse breaker anytime soon, he would need to continue at this pace. And as tempting as it was for him to just quit and go back to professional Quidditch, he knew he couldn't. He had his reasons for quitting.

One of those reasons was he had realized what he loved wasn't Quidditch, but just flying itself. Being unrestrained and soaring through the sky was rather cathartic for him. It also helped that it let him indulge in his occasional need for adrenaline. And as fun as Quidditch could be, it was just better for him to fly for the sake of flying—when he wanted and where he wanted.

Another reason was the people. Not the players but the fans. It was hard enough being The-Boy-Who-Live, as well as The-Man-Who-Conquered, on a normal day. But being those things as well as a person who needed to go to stadiums full of people? Well… it was an exhausting affair. Especially when he had to talk to reporters.

Harry continued to study for another few hour before he finally decided to quit for the day. With a wave of his wand, he sent the textbooks and notes back to their resting places before he got up and left his study room.

From there he walked across his decent sized apartment and went to the kitchen to prepare for dinner. It was about eight o'clock and his stomach was already grumbling at him. He probably should have stopped earlier, but he had gotten a little caught up in his work. Despite how boring it could be sometimes, the applications of runes with wards and magic was still quite interesting.

Harry set a pot of water to boil, before he started to cut up some potatoes. He could have done these things with magic, but oddly enough, he found peace while cooking. It was a bit strange considering how he learned to cook—his aunt forcing him when he was a child—but cooking for himself was much more relaxing and rewarding than cooking for his "family."

Harry put the peeled and cut potatoes into the water and then went on with cooking the main course. He worked with a practiced efficiency that he'd regained after living on his own for two years. And in just half an hour, he was plateing himself a nice large steak along with some very creamy mash potatoes and some greens.

He took this delicious plate of food and went to the dining area, setting the plate and some utensils down. After getting himself a drink as well, Harry sat down to eat, his mouth nearly watering due to his hunger and the smell of food.

"Mmm," Harry hummed in satisfaction as he took his first bite of juicy steak. It may not have been as extensive as a dinner with the Weasley's, but it was delicious in its own right. Still, maybe he should head over and visit sometime. It had been a while, and he certainly wouldn't mind having some more of Mrs. Weasley's cooking.

Then again…

Harry frowned a bit as he chewed on another bite of steak much more slowly. His mind wandered to the youngest Weasley and their relationship. Or, realistically, there lack of a relationship now.

Things between the two of them, after everything had settled down, hadn't gone like either of them had hope. With the separation between them due to her being at Hogwarts, and his lack of time for her during his Quidditch days, they had just naturally drifted apart. In the end, they had decided it would be best if they separated for a while, but stayed friends.

That had been about half a year ago, and neither of them has broached the subject of getting back together. That was probably for the best, as Harry couldn't see himself being with her again. Still, he felt just a bit awkward about it at times, even though she no doubt felt the same. It was probably why he stopped visiting the Weasley's that much. Well, that and the fact that Ron had moved out, so he typically visited his friend at his apartment instead of at the Burrow.

Actually… now that he thought about it, it had been some time since he saw Ron or Hermione, either. He had been so intent on studying as of late that he hadn't had the time to visit. To make things worse, he knew both of them were rather busy too; Ron with his work as an Auror and Hermione with her job in the ministry.

Harry ate some mashed potatoes as he thought about that. It was a bit odd that he didn't notice the lack of contact until now. Back in the old days, the three of them spent nearly all their time together. Heck, he and Ron had been in the same dorm room so they were rarely apart. Now, however, it had been… weeks? No. The last time was… two months ago?

Harry blinked at the realization. It had been two months since he went and seen his closest friends. That was kinda weird… right? Or maybe not. People drift apart, after all. Ginny and him were an obvious example. But it was a bit odd that he hadn't even noticed that. Worse, as he thought about it more, he realized that since he stopped seeing them, he hadn't really spent any time with… anyone.

"Huh," Harry mumbled as he thought about that, finishing off his meal and sending his plates to be cleaned at the sink with magic. With that taken care of, he rested his cheek on his hand and just sat there for a bit.

Had he really been so caught up in his studying that he didn't he just didn't notice? Or was it something else? Did he not notice or did he not care? Was it because he enjoyed the solitude? And if that was the case, did he need to do something about this?

Harry frowned at the thought. It probably wasn't good for him to isolate himself like this. But, maybe this was just who he was now. After all, with all that had happened to him, didn't he deserve some peace and quiet?

Slowly, Harry nodded at that thought. He wouldn't isolate himself completely, but he would allow himself this time of peace while he was studying. Once that was done, and he was prepared enough, he would go back to normal as he tried out curse breaking.

With a smile, Harry got up feeling better about his thoughts. As he started to head back to his study, however, he felt a strange sensation. It felt like something was pulling at him—not physically but magically. It was as if some unknown force was trying to get him somewhere, though it was too weak to.

Harry frowned at this and pulled out his wand, trying out a few spells to stop whatever was happening. Unfortunately, he didn't really understand what was going on, so all his attempts failed. And as more time passed, the unknown force was getting stronger and stronger.

"What the hell," Harry muttered in a strained voice as the force got strong enough to make him feel like there was something trying holding him in place. "What's happening?"

The force continued to grow and Harry could no longer move freely. All he could do was strain against the force, but no matter how hard he did, nothing seem to be working. The force just kept growing. And, it was starting to feel somewhat familiar.

It took Harry slowly panicking mind to figure it out, but as the force seemed to be reaching it's maximum, he realized what the growing feeling was similar to. Apparition!

"Shi—" was all Harry go out of his mouth before the force reached its peak and then he was tugged away.

Harry hated magical travel. More specifically, he hated any magical travel where he wasn't in control. The reason was that he always ended up disoriented when he got to his destination. It didn't seem to affect other as badly, but it had always been a problem for him. That was why he tended to avoid floo travel and portkeys, preferring to apparate himself.

Now, however, floo traveling or portkeying would have been a relief.

He felt as if he was being thrown around in a cyclone, while at the same time, being compressed and stretched on all side. The only relief he got was he couldn't see at the moment, so he didn't have to worry about being further disoriented. Even then, it was little comfort as whatever was happening didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

In fact, as he continued to be thrown around, it felt as if things were getting more intense. He could also start to hear something from far away, but he couldn't quite make it out. Even if he could, he probably wouldn't have had the presence of mind to understand it.

"De—"

"Ca— u—"

"He— th— m—"

"Su—"

"L— m— y— — an— wr— h— m— e— e—!"

Harry gritted his teeth as things got worse and worse and those sounds became clearer and clearer. It was a person talking, though what they were saying he had no clue. All he knew was he wanted this to stop.

Right now!

Almost as if heeding his command, the world lurched one more time in a drastic manner. Harry then found himself seeing again, and he landed hard on the floor, a cloak suddenly on his shoulders. He didn't give that too much thought, however, as he took deep breaths and tried to stop himself from losing his lunch.

—-

Cinder grimaced as she poured her stolen power into the strange black circle her leader, Salem, had drawn onto the stone floor. It was surprisingly draining considering the fact that they were both powering the circle. Then again, the Queen of Grimms had said that this could tip the balance of power fully in their favor.

"You need to focus your power more," Salem said, her eyes closed as she held her hand out in front of her, dark power oozing from her pale body and entering the circle. "This will take our full combined might to accomplish. Even then it might not be enough."

Cinder grimace and redoubled her efforts, channeling more maiden power than she had ever before. "Just what are we doing, ma'am?" she asked, once the entire circle lit up with dark light, unable to contain her curiosity. "How will this help us in our plans?"

"We are summoning something," Salem said, a smirk on her thin white lips. "Something unrelenting, ever pursuing, and unstoppable. Something that could rival the combined powers of the maidens."

Cinder frowned. "And what would that be?"

Salem smile grew and she turned to look at Cinder with her blood-red eyes. "Death," she said, almost in a whisper. "We are summoning death itself."

Cinder's eyes widen, and she felt a shiver run up her spine. Death? Salem couldn't possibly mean that literally, right? Or could she? Before Cinder could ask the questions on her mind, Salem turned around back to the circle her eyes narrowing.

"It is time," Salem said, holding her hands up, before she started chanting in an unknown language.

Cinder watched as Salem spoke, but soon her attention was redirected to the center of the circle. There, a pitch black hole had appeared in the air, swirling with strange and terrible energies. Just looking at stopped her breathing and terrified a primal part of her brain. What was going to come out of that thing?

The hole started pulsing as Salem continued to speak. It was a bit slow at first, but very quickly it sped up, beating almost like a heartbeat. Finally, it seemed to reach its peak and then it exploded into a wave of energy.

Cinder was almost knocked off her feet by the blast but was able to stay upright in the end, if just barely. As she regained her footing, she turned her eyes back to the hole but saw that it was gone. In its place was a slumped figure on the ground, enshrouded by a pitch black cloak as well as the same dark energies of the hole.

She stared at the strange figure, trying to get a read on it, but she couldn't tell much at a glance. The cloak blocked her from seeing anything, and she had no idea what might be under that pitch black fabric.

"Death," Salem said, drawing Cinder's attention back to the women. "I am the one who has summoned you here. I—"

As Salem was speaking, the cloaked figure looked up, revealing blazing emerald eyes surrounded by darkness. It looked at her for just a second before standing up abruptly and lashing out with its hand. A blast of blazing red light shot out and headed straight for her, interrupting what she was going.

Salem didn't react to the attack and stood still as it hit the edge of the circle, stopped by an invisible wall. She looked at the figure for a moment, as if seeing if it would attack again, before she continued. "As you can see, this circle was designed to keep you and your powers within. You cannot break through it with force. However, if you listen to me, then I can offer you much in return for your aid."

The dark figure looked at her for a moment before turning away, examining the room around it. As it did, it locked eyes with Cinder for just a moment. Instead of feeling terror, though, she just felt surprised at what she saw. The darkness that had been swirling around the summoned figure was slowly dissipating and the feeling of danger along with it. It also was now possible to see beneath the cloak a bit, revealing the fact that it was a person within the cloak.

At least, it looked like a person.

Cinder still couldn't make out much, but it looked to be a male human from what she could tell. Whether that was actually the case or not, she was not sure. She would probably have to wait a bit longer for the dark energies to subside for her to be able to tell. That is, if the dark energies truly would disappear. They seemed to be fading, but that didn't mean they wouldn't return.

The cloaked man finished looking around the room, focusing mainly on the circle. Once he was done, he still didn't turn back to face Salem, and instead, starting waving his right hand about. As he did, Cinder realized that he was holding a piece of wood in his hand, which after a moment launched out various colored bolts of energy. Each and every one of them was stopped by the barrier.

"I think that is quite enough," Salem said, irritation in her voice, though she seemed to be trying to keep herself calm. That was a bit surprising to Cinder, as even though her leader was never quick to anger, she also wasn't one to restrain herself when she was. "This circle will not be broken by you, Death. It is powered by magic as great as your own, drawn with blood of ancient bloodlines, and designed specifically to contain you. Cease your attempts to escape so that we may strike an accord."

The figure, Death—Cinder had to remind herself—didn't pay attention to Salem words. Instead, he started to walk towards the edge of the circle, his hand outstretched as if to touch the invisible barrier there.

Cinder tensed up a bit and looked over to Salem to see her reaction. The women merely looked annoyed and unconcerned. Seeing that, Cinder relaxed herself a bit and turned back to watch what Death was doing. Hopefully, he would finish his testing soon and they could get on with it. She had been pulled away from Vale for this and she didn't like leaving her underlings to—

Cinder train of thought screeched to a halt as Death's hand reached out over the circle and passed through it unrestricted. She pulled on her maiden powers then, ready to lash out at him before he attacked.

But Death didn't attack her or Salem. Instead, the moment his hand passed over the circle, he leaped forward out of the circle and started to run. He seemed to be headed for one of the windows.

"Stop him!" Salem screamed, even as a ball of dark energy sailed across the room at Death. Cinder reacted a second after and fired off the power that she had drawn, launching a fireball him as he reached the window.

Before either of the attacks hit home, Death's form seemed to twist into himself before disappearing entirely. Both attacks ended up slamming into the window he had been running to, destroying it and much of the wall around it.

Cinder looked at the now gaping hole with wide eyes, before she shivered as she felt another kind of dark energy build up behind her. Unlike with Death, this energy was familiar, though was terrifying in its own right.

This was not going to be good.

Harry landed on his feet and took off running.

He was in some forest and it was probably the creepiest one he had even been in. Even the Forbidden Forest back at Hogwarts looked far more inviting than this place. The trees were all devoid of leaves and each of them was a strange pitch black color. There was also a lack of the typical sounds of nature.

Harry tried not to let that get to him and instead focused on his escape. He didn't know who that woman back there was, but her talk about summoning Death, as well as her resemblance to Voldemort, told him that he didn't want her to catch up with him. Any ideas of fighting her were also put aside for now, as he had no idea where he was and no idea what kind of help that woman might have—aside from the other, much more normal looking, women that had been with her.

Harry panted heavily as he swerved through the dense forest of trees, his feet already starting to ache in protest. Perhaps he should have kept up with his training after he left Quidditch, instead of just spending all his time studying. Then again, how could he possibly have known he would find himself in situations like this?

The densely packed trees started to thin as he continued to run and the distance he could see in front of him was getting farther. It got to the point where he could see far enough that appariting would be worth it, so he started doing that, covering large distances in single moments.

After several long minutes of this, Harry finally stopped in a small clearing and took a second to rest a bit. He leaned over and rested his hands on his knees, his breathing heavy. With the huge distance he must have put between him and that castle, as well as the lack of detectable magic around him, it should be safe enough for the moment.

Harry breathing slowly returned to normal and stood back up. As he did, he took notice of the cloak around him. He hadn't really paid too much attention to it when he had first arrived in that castle, but taking a look at it now, he realized that it was his invisibility cloak. Why it was now a pitch black color, he didn't know, though a quick mental command showed that it could still turn invisible—a feature of the cloak that came to be around the same time he could start summoning the Hallows.

Since it was still working, he decided not to focus on the color change. Instead, he cast a quick Homenum Revelio to see if there was anyone around him. When that go him no response, he relaxed slightly and then pondered his next move.

Harry still had no idea where he was at the moment, so that was probably the first thing he needed to fix. The problem was, there really wasn't a spell that could tell him where he was—at least not one he knew. If there was, Hermione would probably know, though since she's not here, he needed something else.

He could just keep traveling in the direction he had been going and try to find a person to ask, but that was a last resort kind of thing. As good as he had gotten at appariting over the years, it was still quite draining. If he tried to keep doing it without something to guide him, he might end up tiring himself out before he got anywhere close to civilization.

Harry sighed and rolled his wand in his hand. The only spell that he knew that had anything to do with directions was the Point Me charm, and all that would do was tell him where north was. It's just too bad he didn't have a charm to point him in the direction of people…

Harry paused as he thought about that and an idea started to form. He hadn't studied spell crafting or anything, but he could try and change a spell by overpowering right? Well… maybe. It couldn't hurt… probably.

He shook his head and pushed aside the doubt. With a charm like this, overpowering it shouldn't cause any real problems for him. Waste power maybe, but not cause anything serious. Still, he probably shouldn't go full force right away.

Harry waved his wand and cast Homenum Revelio with much more power than before. He didn't get a reaction any reaction. Frowning, he cast it again with more power, and then finally got a result. Unfortunately, it was back the way he came, and he was pretty sure it was just the witches who summoned him.

"Hmm. How far am I away from civilization?" Harry muttered to himself, casting the spell several more times and only detecting the witches from before. "What the hell..." He stopped casting after the third time as he was putting a ridiculous amount of power into the spell and getting nothing in return.

Harry let out a sigh of frustration and put away his wand. He then stood there for a moment hesitant, before he put his hand in front of him and grasp at the air. His hands closed around another wand, one that appeared out of thin air.

Harry looked at the Elder Wand with trepidation. "Well, you're supposed to be the most powerful wand ever. If you can't do this, then I should give up this idea," he said before casting one more time, with a considerable amount of power.

Harry's eyes widen in shock as the spell took effect. He felt the same two witches from before, but this time, he also felt much more. There were four directions where he could tell there was a large number of people. The only problem, though, was from what limited information he could get from the spell, all four of them were immensely far away.

"What the hell," Harry muttered. Why the heck did that witch have to live so far out in the middle of nowhere? Why couldn't she just stay hidden with wards like a normal witch?

"Oh well," he said, shaking his head. "I guess I should—"

Harry's eyes widen as his danger sense screamed at him that something was wrong. Without even thinking about it, he threw himself to the side, just as a black creature rushed at him from behind a nearby tree.

His reaction was too slow.