Welcome to Chasing After Death.

Summary: Everyone knows that you're not suppose to chase after death. That's just common sense but when you're Harry Potter, everything becomes irrelevant when you're a man on a mission. AU HPxHG

This story will be updated after every other chapter for my other story, Holding onto Hope. Each chapter will be around 5k words give or take. Reviews are welcomed.

Edit: As Nanashi113 pointed out, UK doesn't have the fifth amendment but it's still recognized everywhere else in the world. Outside the US, they refer to it as the Right to Silence. From what I research, it's the same concept so for this story, I'll be leaving it as it is because Harry's well verse in all parts of the world due to his new job. Thank you Nanashi113 for pointing that out to me. Always learning something new.

London Heathrow Airport - Hanger 3

"I'm sooo bored." Harry muttered out loud. "I can't even fathom how..." He paused and looked down at his name tag. "... Earl makes it through each day. I would've probably gone all voldemorty after an hour..."

Sitting inside Earl's office, Harry twirled around in his uncomfortable office chair, completely bored out of his mind. "I can understand the skill set needed to smuggle items... I really do but can't they just be on time?" He whined. "This is just plain rude."

Ever since his informant told him that a highly valuable and dangerous artifact from Russia would be smuggled into London today, Harry spent the last three hours waiting in this man's office.

So far, he hasn't seen anything that was worth smuggling in. Sure the things that came into this hanger was questionable at best... Wild exotic animals... Some art pieces... even a few coffins but none of that was on his list.

Not today anyway.

Today, he was after the lost scepter of Grigori Rasputin. According to legends, this scepter was a dark artifact that grants the wielder unimaginable powers which was why he was here. He couldn't let it fall into the wrong hands. One crazy lunatic was more than enough for him. The world didn't need a second one but ultimately, he just didn't want to deal with it.

Let it be someone else's problem. That was his mantra.

Harry sighed for the umpteen time as he watched the entrance from the window. "I'm going to kill that blonde git if nothing happens today..."

Just as those words left his mouth, the doors to the side of the hanger blew open, causing everyone to look around with a mixture of shock and surprise. A dozen men rushed through the smoke, dressed in dark color robes. Harry looked up and instantly recognized them. How can he not? He spent a year in their ranks before transferring out of that department. Every witch and wizard knew who these people were.

They were the British Aurors. The magical law enforcement of the wizarding world. The laughing stock to everywhere else in the world.

Harry let out a small groan and ducked down. He quickly cast a disillusion charm on himself and tried to sneak out of the office. Why did they have to come here today of all days? He was silently cursing at his own luck.

"Nobody move!" Someone shouted through the commotion. "We received a report about a possible threat here. Muggles to one side and everyone else stay where they are."

"Who are you guys? Is this some kind of role playing fetish thing? If it is, count us out because we didn't sign up for that. Not our cuppa tea to be honest."

Harry snickered at the confused looks that the Aurors were giving. This is why he left. They were a bunch of clowns that couldn't even tell their left hand from their right. It was an embarrassment to even be associated with them.

"Something funny Potter?" A hoarse voice whispered from behind Harry. His eyes widened, surprise that someone saw through his disillusion charm.

"Potter? What is a Potter?" Harry answered, pretending to be a muggle. "My name is Earl... McAirporty..."

"Cut the bullshit Potter. I know it's you. I know we taught you better than that to cast a disillusion charm. Now turn around slowly and don't make any sudden moves."

Harry sighed and turned around. He then recognized who it was. "Donovan MacBay. I thought I smelled something rotten in here."

Donovan rolled his eyes and dispelled the charm. He pointed his wand at Harry and narrowed his eyes. "Why did you do it Potter?" He asked, shaking his head. "I always knew you were a self-center, egotistic bastard but to betray your own country? That's a new low even for you."

"Don't forget destroyer of Voldeshorts." Harry replied, eyeing the glasses on MacBay's face. "Everyone keeps forgetting that but I'll let it slide just this once. So what's this about me betraying a country? I know it's only Tuesday but I'm having a slow week. I believe I have treason listed for Thursday..."

"Always with the jokes aren't you Potter. Well the joke's on you now. We have you on two counts of treason and conspiracy to overthrow the ministry. Azkaban's going to look real nice."

Harry started laughing and then pointed at the glasses on MacBay's face. "I'm sorry, I know you're trying to be serious here but you have got to take off those stupid charmed glasses. They make you look smarter than you really are. You're going to confuse a lot of people by wearing that."

Donovan growled and ripped the glasses off his face. "Cummins! Gather the boys and arrest Potter. If he pulls any kind of weird shit, stun him."

"You were always a kiss ass Donovan. Always willing to suck up to get what you want. Always willing to take handouts... Always willing to be my bitch." Harry said, smirking. "I know this is the part where I should be protesting about my innocence but I won't. I know the procedure just as well as you do so I'm going to demand that you show me the evidence."

"We don't have to show you shit Potter!" Donovan angrily responded. He backhand Harry across the face, breathing heavily as he glared at him. How dare he insult him in front of his own men! "Go ahead, resist Potter. You're going to make this all that sweeter."

Harry rubbed the right side of his cheek and just stared at the man. He quickly pulled out his own wand and pointed at Donovan. "Depulso!" Harry whispered.

Donovan flinched and held up his hands to protect his face, knowing that Potter cast a banishing charm at him. He looked up in surprise to see that he was still standing there, except that he felt a light tap on his cheek.

"Did you just... slap me?" Donovan asked incredulously. "So the rumors are true... you lost your magic Potter." Laughter soon erupted from his lips and the rest of his men joined in shortly. "This is like a dream come true. The mighty Harry Potter, the vanquisher of the dark lord... is no stronger than a mere first year! When word gets out, your reputation will be ruined!"

"So what?" Harry answered, grunting as he felt Donovan's men slap handcuffs on his wrist. "Magic is overrated."

Donovan leaned forward, close enough into Harry's personal space. "Don't act so high and mighty. I'm going to make sure that you never see the outside of a cell ah-"

Not letting Donovan finish that sentence, Harry took a step forward and without warning, he slammed his head against Donovan's nose, effectively head-butting him. There was a small smile on his face when he heard the bone break.

A high pitch scream escaped from Donovan's lips as blood dripped from his nose. "Get him!" He shouted as he staggered back.

Harry stood there, with his hands handcuffed behind his back. He looked around and noticed the hesitation from Donovan's men. He felt like he should say something clever during this moment. "Any chance we can be friends and you guys just forget this ever happened?"

The Aurors looked at him awkwardly. "We have our orders Mister Potter. We're only doing our jobs." Cummins answered, moving closer to get a hold of Harry. "We hope you understand..."

"No hard feelings right?" Harry asked.

"No hard feelings sir." A random man that Harry couldn't remember replied. "Why are you smiling sir? You're about to be arrested."

"That's because I'm Harry freaking Potter rookie." Harry answered with a big smile on his face. "I don't lose." He jumped into the air and pulled his arms forward, so that it was now in their normal position, minus the handcuffs. With reflexes that he honed from hours of training, he quickly dispatched all of Donovan's men. He turned his attention to the whimpering man that was on the floor. Harry slowly walked to him, a predatory smile on his face.

"St-stay back Po-potter!" Donovan stuttered. "You won't get away with this. You assaulted a team of Aurors..."

Harry sighed and held his arms out. "Then I surrender."

Ministry Integration Room XV

"We know you did it Harry. We have credible sources that puts you in the center of this conspiracy. We have you dead to rights but what we don't understand is why. Why would someone of your stature commit such a stupid and heinous crime?"

"I plead the fifth." Harry answered, leaning back into his uncomfortable chair. So far, he was two for two with chairs today. First with Earl's office and now in this interrogation room. When he gets out of here, he's going to be writing a very stern letter to several people about the importance of having office chairs with lumbar support.

After all, we're not savages. We're magical folks and there's a standard that we should always be meeting. Having better chairs is one of them.

A pair of hands slammed themselves into the metal table, shifting Harry's focus back to the present. "Help me help you Harry. If you can't give me anything to work with, then there's nothing we can do to help you."

"I plead the fifth." Harry replied with the same answer again. After the first ten questions, he noticed that his interrogator whom shall be known as Mr. Shifty, started to develop a twitch with his left eye. Ever since then, he created a game for himself to see just how long it would take for Mr. Shifty to break. It was all amusing really. If they only bothered to read his file, they would have known that anything short of using curses would make him talk.

It secretly made him proud about how high his pain tolerance is.

"I'm not the enemy here Harry. I'm on your side. Give me something so that I can help you." Mr. Shifty asked once more. Harry could make out the desperation in his voice. He looked past his interrogator and winked at the glass window. He knew that there were people standing behind there watching this. Hell, he stood on the other side as well.

"I plead the..."

"Fifth!" Mr. Shifty shouted, slamming his hands against the metal table again. "I get it already Harry! I get it! Okay, let's do an easy one. Have you gone dark?"

"I plead the fifth."

Mr. Shifty yelled and walked over to the glass, banging his head against it. "Let me use Veritaserum already. Just have someone pass it through the door and you guys can leave. I won't tell. I promise!"

Harry smiled to himself. Harry - One. Mr. Failed Interrogator - Zero.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Kingsley shouted as he ran into the room. "Has everyone gone insane? I have fifteen different reporters hounding my office asking me why Harry Potter was hauled into the ministry this morning in handcuffs! There better be an excellent reason for this!"

Mr. Shifty took several steps back, frightened at being yelled at by the minister of magic. Harry snickered at the man's predicament.

"It was my call Minister Shacklebolt." Donovan said, quickly strolling into the room. "We had a credible source that swears that Harry was involved in a plan that involved overthrowing the government."

Kingsley sighed and rubbed his temples. "I know you're just doing your job MacBay but I'm going to ask you one very simple question and that answer better be yes. Did you... or did you not... verify your source before pursuing Mr. Potter here?"

At the moment, Donovan MacBay knew he was screwed. When the tip fell into his lap, it was like someone gave him the best gift he could ever asked for and it wasn't even his birthday. All he wanted to do was to take Potter down a peg. To show everyone that there was nothing special about him but by not double checking his facts, he found himself digging a very deep hole.

His eyes shifted and locked onto the only other person in the room. "Jones! Answer the minister!"

Mr. Shifty nee Jones looked up with widened eyes, like a deer caught in headlights. "Wh-what sir?"

Kingsley watched this and noticed the smirk on Harry's face. "Let him go MacBay. I have everything that I need to know so just release Mr. Potter and see me in my office later."

"Yes sir..." Donovan quietly answered. He reluctantly took out the keys and released Harry. "This just proves that you're nothing but a waste of department funding Potter. You should have stayed in the Aurors. At least with us, you could have made a difference like the other golden boy but instead, you chose to throw your life away for something idiotic. I hope it was worth it."

Harry massaged his wrists once the cuffs came off. He stood up and smiled at Donovan. "It's always worth it when I'm pissing someone off." Harry said before slamming his head against Donovan's nose again.

"Son of a bitch! He broke it again!" Donovan cried out, staggering backwards and falling down. "Did anyone see that!? Potter just struck me! I'll have your ass thrown in jail if that's the last thing that I do!"

"Take your superior officer out of here Jones!" Kingsley shouted.

Jones quickly nodded and ran out of the room with Donovan by his side who was screaming profanities the entire way.

"What am I going to do with you Harry?" Kingsley sadly shook his head. "You can't go around injuring my Aurors like that. He's going to be pressing charges you know."

"You used to be fun Kingsley." Harry replied, still smiling at his friend. "We had such good times before. Let's not let something like that piece of shit get between us."

"I'm the minister of magic you know. I can't always be sweeping your messes under the rug."

Harry laughed, "You make it sound like I'm a walking time bomb. I don't always make messes."

"What about that incident in Cairo? Or Shanghai?"

"First off, Cairo was not my fault and that animal was a stray. No one was going to miss it and secondly, Shanghai, okay, technically that was my fault. No one told me I couldn't blow up that bomb."

Kingsley closed his eyes and plugged his fingers into his ear. "I am not hearing any of this Harry. I am not hearing you incriminate yourself in front of the minister of magic."

Ministry, Third floor

While Kingsley had his eyes close and started mumbling incoherent words, Harry took it as his cue to leave. He figured that since he was in the Ministry anyway, he might as well torture one of his favorite people.

"Hello my faithful servant." Harry deeply whispered as he sneaked up behind an unsuspecting Draco Malfoy. "Your lord requires assistance."

Draco quickly spun around in his chair and leaped up. "God damn it Potter! I told you never to do that to me. What are you doing here anyway? Last I heard, you were being thrown in jail."

"Nothing but rumors." Harry answered, already biting into the second half of the sandwich. "Really? A vegetarian sandwich? What is the matter with you Draco? Why can't you get something normal like a turkey club or a BLT?"

"Says the moocher." Draco muttered, sitting back down in his seat. "Go away Potter. It's bad enough that I have Weasley as my superior but to have you here as well? I'm trying to enjoy my lunch, not vomit."

"Now now Draco. Deny it all you want but you know as well as I do that we're ..." Harry lowered his voice and then looked around before smiling. "Friends."

Draco rolled his eyes and shoved Harry off his desk. "Oh spare me the dramatics. You haven't been in the country for more than a few days in the last three years. I would say that we're acquaintances at best."

"What can I say? I'm a busy man now that I'm no longer an Auror. Running your own department is very time consuming. You know my offer still stands Draco. That position for my number two is yours if you want it."

"I see no difference if I'm working for you or that idiot Weasley." Draco dryly replied. "I'm just trading in one idiotic boss for another. That's not a good enough incentive so if you will excuse me, some of us have some real work to do."

Harry rolled his eyes, "What happened to the old Draco from Hogwarts? Now that guy was fun..."

"That guy is sitting right here Potter. Now get out of here. I have several cases that I need to write up..." Draco answered, pulling up several files. Any thoughts about lunch was long forgotten.

"Wait. What was that?" Harry suddenly said, his hands quickly grabbing one of the case files. He narrowed his eyes as he flipped through the pages and then pulled out several pictures. "Where were these taken Draco?"

Draco snatched the pictures back. "Scotland Potter. Three different homicides in one night. Our people are telling us that our victims were smugglers, pretty good ones too. If you meet their price, they'll smuggle anything for you. Drugs... Women... anything you want but their particular area of expertise were in lost artifacts. I don't think it's a coincidence but I haven't found a concrete link yet. It's only been a few days and no one has stepped forward to claim credit for these kills."

"Those symbols..." Harry answered, trying to recall where he last saw it. "I've seen them before..."

"The one that was carved into their chest? I don't know Potter. It looks like random stab marks to me but if you want access to the files, you know who you have to see."

Harry nodded and grabbed the pictures once more. "Where is he right now?"

"In your old office of course." Draco answered. He watched as Harry walked away and decided to follow him. Whatever he found, it might be more interesting than doing paperwork but he knew one thing that Potter didn't. This was Weasley's private time and he made that clear to everyone that he was not to be disturbed. Of course everyone in the office knew what was going on in there. Everyone except for Harry and that filled Draco with a happiness that money couldn't buy.

Harry held the pictures tightly in his hands as he walked through the building. He knew where to go. It was his office first after all. The countless hours and late nights that were spent in there... it would take a large blow to his head to make him forget where it was.

"Ron!" Harry shouted as he forcefully opened the door.

"Harry?"

"What the hell mate!?"

"My eyes! My bloody eyes! I'm going blind!"

Several voices screamed from inside the office and Draco just started laughing. He strolled into the office and found the mighty Harry Potter on the floor, rolling around as his hands tried to rub the image out of his eyes. He happily stood by the entrance, content with just being an observer for now.

"My innocent eyes." Harry moaned. "They did nothing to deserve this. They were just victims in this crime of passion and you just made me an accessory Ron! An accessory! How could you!? What about Hermione? I love you mate but I can't lie to her about this. She'll kill us both when she finds out and I'm too young to die!"

Ron rolled his eyes. "For crying out loud, open your eyes Harry. It wasn't like I was shagging Lavender in front of you."

"Hi Harry." Lavender waved when Harry finally forced his eyes open. "Long time no see."

"And for your information, Hermione and I broke up years ago. It was actually a few months after you left mate. I just couldn't bring myself to tell you with a letter and since you were never in London... I sort of forgot about it."

Harry glared at his best friend. "So my eyes had to suffer because of your forgetfulness? Thanks a lot Ronald Bilius Weasley."

Ron sighed. "What are you even doing here Harry? Last I heard, you were off running around somewhere in Russia tracking down some stolen artifacts."

"Not anymore. I'm here because I need access to the department files. Something about these pictures doesn't sit right with me."

"I can't give you access Harry. You know that. Only Aurors have access to those files."

"Then give me Draco. You can never have too many scapegoats lying around." Harry said, smirking at the now frowning Draco.

Draco soon saw all three sets of eyes staring at him. "Uh... I have some paperwork that I ne-"

"Take him and get out." Ron interrupted. "Just make sure that those three cases are on my desk by the end of the week Malfoy."

"Also make sure you bring him back in one piece Harry." Lavender replied on top.

Harry mock saluted and grabbed Draco on the way out. "I'll make sure nothing much happens to him."

"What is so important about these murders Potter?" Draco asked as they went back to his desk. "Is this related to something that you're working on?"

"Something like that..." Harry answered, holding up those pictures again. His finger pointed towards the symbol that was carved into each of the man's chest. "I remember those symbols now. These are the symbols associated with death. Each culture has a similar symbol but it's easily recognizable. The Japanese refers to it as the Shinigami. The Egyptians referred to him as Anubis. The Greeks called him Thanatos and so forth but what I'm trying to say is that the face of death changes based on where you are in the world but the meaning remains the same."

"And you believe this crude drawing of what looks like a scythe to be the symbol of death?"

"Yes. I'm positive this is it."

Draco paused for a moment, trying to let what Harry told him sink in. He stared at the pictures and the more he looked at it, the more Potter's explanation started to make sense to him. That itself made him want to re-examine his head. "Let's just say hypothetically you're right. Why would anyone go to such lengths to do it? Is the person trying to send a message and if so, what could it be?"

"It's a message, no doubt about that."

This was not a coincidence. Whoever was doing this was definitely trying to get his attention... and they succeeded. Ever since his battle with Voldemort, he's been having dreams... visions... about death. Not about dying of course. They were about death herself. At first, she would be standing there, smiling at him while her black cloak blew in the wind and Harry would just wave back awkwardly.

It never went further than that but recently, the dreams started to last longer but what scared him the most was that death started to speak to him. Now Harry was not a religious man. Not by a long shot but when death starts to talk, he was going to listen.

The gates between the living and the dead is about to be open Harry Potter... As the master of death, it is your responsibility to make sure that does not happen. The answers that you've been searching for lie with death. Find me and all your questions will finally make sense.

That was why Harry was stalking out at the airport. When his source told him about a dark artifact, he immediately jumped at the chance. He wasted months searching for anything related to dark magic and death and the scepter was the first thing to pop up over the course of several months. It would have gone according to plan except that Donovan MacBay had to get in the middle of it.

Donovan 'Broken Nose' MacBay. Now that was a catchy nickname. Much cooler than Boy-Who-Lived.

"How do you feel like going on an adventure Draco?" Harry suddenly asked.

Draco narrowed his eyes at Harry. "Will it kill me?"

"Quite possibly."

"Will I need to lie to my wife about this?"

"You're married?" Harry asked, surprised by the news. "Who is the unlucky woman?"

"If you must know, it's Astoria Greengrass."

"In that case, yes. Lie to her. If she ask why you're late, lie. If she ask why you have a red lipstick on your shirt. You lie like your life depended on it."

"Why do I need to lie to my wife Potter and why did you even need to know?"

"Because in the event of your untimely death, I want her to know that she can come to me for anything Draco." Harry said, winking. "That's what a friend does. He offers his shoulders to the widow."

"You're a bastard. You know that Potter?"

"I never said I wasn't one."

Ministry Sub Basement Level X

"Remind me why you couldn't have just portkey here?" Draco asked. "Your magical abilities are off the charts. Surely something as easy as making a portkey would have been faster than us walking..."

"It's those damn magic dampening handcuffs earlier. They took more out of me than I anticipated." Harry said, lying through his teeth. "Besides your wife will thank me for making you exercise. When's the last time you did some fieldwork anyway? I think I see a little gut showing."

"Shut it Potter or I'll let MacBay know that you're still here."

"Someone's sensitive." Harry muttered. He unconsciously grabbed his wand, full well knowing that there was no such thing as magic dampening handcuffs. He just couldn't bring himself to tell Draco or anyone else for that matter that he was weaker than before. That was the reason why he left the Aurors in the first place. He didn't have the magical abilities to continue to be one.

Something happened to him after he took down Voldemort. The evil bastard muttered something with his last breathe and Harry felt a slight chill afterwards. He didn't pay much attention to it because he assumed it was just fatigue from the battle. Weeks went by and that's when he noticed that his magic wasn't the same as before but that didn't deter him from completing the Auror academy with Ron.

It was a few months after his graduation that he started to pay attention to his own magical core. He discovered that while his core was back normal, he was unable to cast any of his stronger, more destructive spells. It was like someone put a barrier in front of his magic and said you're done Harry. No more powerful and crazy spells for you.

"What can I do for you Mister Malfoy and... Mister Potter... What a surprise. I didn't expect you to come down here after you left the Aurors."

"Hello Croaker." Harry greeted. "How are you?"

"What can I do for you gentlemen today?" Croaker asked, ignoring Harry's greeting and getting straight to the point.

"I was wondering if we can borrow everything that you have on death."

"If you feel the need to die Mister Potter, please do it someplace else. We are the Department of Mysteries, not a dumpsite for bodies." Croaker sternly answered. "And we do not encourage suicides..."

Harry rolled his eyes. "You misinterpreted my question. I'm not looking for ways to die per say. I'm looking for what you know about death itself. We want to investigate her."

The pronoun that Harry used caught the other two men by surprise. "Death is a... she?" Croaker asked. "Why would you even label a gender to that?"

"What kind of sick fetish are you involved with now Potter? You know what, I don't even want to know." Draco also quickly answered. "How do I get off this crazy boat?"

"Shut it Draco." Harry muttered. "Do you or do you not have anything Croaker? This is the Department of Mysteries after all. I'm positive you have something about everything down here."

"We may have something Mister Potter. Do you want us to send a copy of everything we have to... an office somewhere?"

"Nah." Harry answered, waving his hand nonchalantly. "Just send it to Draco's desk."

"You'll have it within the hour." Croaker replied and started to walk away. After a few steps, he stopped and turned his head. "A warning Mister Potter... Death is not to be taken lightly. If you're going to do what I think you're going to do, I would make sure that you don't drag poor Mister Malfoy here with you."

"What does he mean by that Potter?" Draco asked, his eyes widened. He turned to Harry who looked surprised as well and then back to the unspeakable who was already gone. "If I die Potter, I swear I'm going to come back and haunt you for an eternity. Everywhere you go, I'm going to be right there. If you're in the shower, I'm there. If you're making love, I'm going to be right there. There won't be a place that you can hide from me!"

"When did you become such a drama queen?" Harry retorted. "And why is your badge buzzing? I thought you were on desk duty."

Draco ignored Harry and turned over his Auror badge. His eyes quickly skimmed through it and put the badge away. "Not a big deal. Your old buddy Granger reported a break-in at her apartment. They're sending a few Aurors over to check it out."

Harry's face quickly went pale. "We have to get over there right now Draco!"

"What for? It's just a break-in. She's fine Potter. Stop worrying."

"You don't understand you idiot. She has one of the artifacts of death!"

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