I do not own Harry Potter. If I did Luna would be Queen of everything.

Sorry if I don't type very often, I'm a bit of a procrastinator. Sometimes I'll prefer to read and I blame the people of FanFiction for writing such great stories.

Death's Offer

Harry opened his eyes. He was surrounded by darkness. He looked around getting frantic. He couldn't see anything. The last thing he remembered was fighting Voldemort on the grass outside the castle. The battle of Hogwarts. The end of the war no matter what side won. So where was he now?

He spun around again and again and again until he finally saw a speck of light. He ran towards it and it slowly got bigger. Harry ran for what felt like eternity, not noticing the fact that he never ran out of breath. As he got closer and closer the light started to take shape. There seemed to be black marks on it too. Finally Harry made it and found a door with a large glass pane. On the glass were the words 'Department of Death'. Harry was freaking out, but there was no where else to go. He gripped the handle, turned it and walked inside.

On the other side of the door appeared to be an office building. There were cubicles and offices and a reception area. Walking around were many beings that looked human, but they weren't. All of them had what appeared to be enlarged black raven wings on their backs. Everyone was wearing some form of black clothing, be it black robes or black jeans and t-shirt with a black hooded jumper.

There were people without wings there, dressed in regular clothes. They were sitting at desks within the cubicles filling out paperwork. Harry couldn't help but wonder 'what the hell was going on?'

Harry jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to find one of the creatures, a male with short blonde hair and nearly black eyes, glaring at him.

"Follow me Mr Potter. The Boss wants to speak with you personally." Harry followed him through the maze of cubicles, past the offices and across the Reception area. Whoever the creature was took him to a blank wall and pressed a button. Half a minute later the wall rumbled and cracked. It split down the middle and the wall parted to what was obviously an elevator. Harry walked inside after, It? Him? It pressed another button and the elevator started going up. He kept glancing to the side. Something seemed familiar, sub-consciously, about the creature. He just couldn't figure out why. He was startled when it sighed.

"I'm the guy you almost got fired when you died the last time."

"WHAT? WHAT DO YOU MEAN DIED LAST TIME?" Harry was confused, scared and angry. Who the hell had killed him? Who the hell had done it before?

"Simply put Mr Potter I'm your Angel of Death, Anthony, you died, I sent you back, I got grief for letting you die, and now, less than four months later, here you are again. I've already sent up your file. My Boss will explain." The rest of the trip was in silence. Harry was still coming to terms with what had happened. He had died, at least twice by what Anthony had said. What if he had died more times than that? He started thinking about every situation he had ever been in where he could have died. With the Dursleys, the troll, the first Quidditch match, the Forbidden Forest, Fluffy, the devils snare, Voldemort, the car and the whomping willow, the Forest again, the Basilisk, the Dementors, Lupin, the Dementors again, the Quidditch World Cup, the First Task, the Second Task, the Third Task, the Graveyard, the Dementors Again, the Department of Mysteries, the Cave, the Ministry of Magic and all through the Horcrux hunt.

He was still thinking when the elevator stopped. He didn't notice the hand on his shoulder steering him into a hallway and pushing him towards a door at the end. He finally took notice when he was right outside. There was a plaque on the door that said

'Death

AKA

The Grim Reaper

Head of the Department of Death'

Harry shivered and contemplated running away. Perhaps back through that door into perpetual darkness. He could curl up in the dark and pretend it wasn't happening. But before he could Anthony reached out and knocked on the door. A muffled 'enter' was heard from inside and Harry was pushed inside.

A man looked up from the desk. He stood up and gestured for him to sit down. Harry looked at him. He looked normal. No wings like Anthony and no bones like you would associate with Death. He was, however, wearing the black cloak. He was tall with short black hair and black irises. He was clean shaven and well built. Death looked at Harry, well, more Glared at him, before sitting back down.

"Now Mr Potter, do you get some kind of… glee out of trying to get my employees fired?" Harry started to splutter negatives while furiously shaking his head. "THEN WHY, PRAY TELL, ARE YOU DEAD?" Death sighed and looked away. "All that paperwork. It took weeks to get it all redone. And now here you are again."

"Excuse me, but can you explain what happened?" said Harry nervously. He really didn't want to anger Death.

"What? Oh of course. Now where did I put your file?" Death shuffled some papers around on his desk until he saw a bright green one. "Aha. Got it. Now according to your file you were duelling with Voldemort when you were shot from behind by Bellatrix Lestrange with an Avada Kedavra. This is the second time you've died, the first was at Malfoy Manor, the three of you died that time."

Harry looked surprised, "You mean me, Hermione and Ron all died."

"No." Death flipped a few pages. "You, Miss Granger and Miss Lovegood died. The red headed prick got scared and ran in the opposite direction. He followed you and the girl up from the cellar and then snuck off looking for an exit. I had to nudge him into following you, while the girl decided to go with the house elf instead. If that wasn't bad enough, not only did you die again, but so did Miss Lovegood." Harry's eyes grew wide as he heard that.

"What? When? How?"

"Shall I answer in order Mr Potter?" Death chuckled. "She died, seconds after you did. She was duelling one of her tormentors, Lucius Malfoy, and holding her own when the other one, young Draco, joined the fight. They over powered her. Draco hit her with a cruciatus and his father then hit her with an Avada Kedavra. And I must say Mr Potter that I'm quite upset about it. I'm fond of her mother, I still have the occasional chat with her, such a shame when she passed, such talent gone to waste. I did not want to see her daughter here at such a young age." Death was starting to look cross again.

"Why don't you just send her back? You've done it before." Mumbled Harry. It quickly became clear that this was the wrong thing to say.

"DON'T YOU GET IT YOU IDIOT? I DIDN'T SEND HER BACK, I SENT YOU BACK! EVERYONE ELSE ONLY GETS ONE SHOT AT LIFE! IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THEY WANT TO DO OR WHAT THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO DO! THEY DIE AND THAT'S IT! GAME OVER! THEY'VE LOST! THE ONLY REASON YOU GOT SENT BACK IS BECAUSE OF THAT DAMN PROPHECY!" Death face was red and heading to a shade of purple that Harry's uncle could only dream of going. And then he started to calm down. His face returned to its normal colour and relaxed. He looked back at Harry before looking down at the file.

"You've died twice Mr Potter. Yet the Dark Lord still lives. What am I going to do with you?" Death scratched his chin while flipping through the pages.

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry but why are you so upset? I mean it's not like I've died twenty two times." Death looked up. His eyes bore into Harry's. He sighed as he mentally prepared his answer.

"It's not that simple Mr Potter. I had you sent back ten minutes last time. Do you know how many people die every ten minutes?" Harry shook his head. "Around one thousand and seventy. Now as we, that is to say this 'Dimension', exists outside of time, or rather your time, we had to 'recycle' those souls that died back to their living bodies from ten minutes earlier and wipe their memories. And then they arrived right back here as those ten minutes repeated themselves. The paperwork my office had to do just to send you back ten minutes was enough to keep us busy for weeks. Are you starting to understand Mr Potter?" Death looked away and rubbed his eyes before he got up and made his way to a cabinet. He pulled out a black folder and returned to the desk.

"Now Mr Potter, I'm going to make you an offer. You have three choices. Your first choice is to move on and be with your family and friends. However, if you take this choice many more people will die and Voldemort will win. Your second choice is to be returned to ten minutes before you died, again. You will be able to save your own life as well as others, again. You will also create a lot of paperwork, again. Your finally choice is to be sent back to your thirteenth birthday. You will be able to save many who shouldn't have died. You will create enough paperwork to last years. This option comes with a condition. You have to decide if it's worth it. I will warn you, once you choose, there is no going back. I'll give you some time to think about it." Death got up and left the room through a side door.

Harry sat there and thought about his choices. While he would love to meet his mother and father, he knew he couldn't leave innocent people to die. Hermione called it his 'saving people thing.' His second choice was more appealing, but really, the opportunity to get Sirius back, to clear his name and live with him, was too good to pass up. He would take his chances with the condition.

Decision made, Harry sat back and waited for Death to come back.

A few minutes later the door opened and Death walked in. Anthony entered as well, his arms filled with paperwork.

"Your decision Mr Potter?" Death looked at him with a faint smile as Anthony laid out the paperwork with a small smirk. Harry looked at it for a minute before adding his own.

"How'd you know I'd take the third choice?" Death chuckled.

"Because Mr Potter, you are one of the few individuals with a real 'saving people thing.' Simply put, you care."

"Yeah, but why do you care so much?" Said Harry looking confused. "I thought you would accept death regardless." Death sighed.

"Ordinarily I would. I let the last Dark Lord have his fun. I then put him in his own personal hell room so I could personally torture him for what he's done. But Voldemort's escaped death now more than once. That bastard's soul belongs to me and he's long overdue for payment." Harry looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding. They spent what felt like hours filling out paperwork. Form after form where all he did was sign his name. Finally they put their pens down.

"So what is this condition?" Asked Harry cautiously.

"Mr Potter, I want you to work for me. I want you to become my reaper on earth. To become the 'Master of Death' and to deliver to me some overdue souls. Once all of said souls have been… 'Collected'… you will be freed from the contract and allowed to live your life. You will remember everything. The only other person to do so will be Miss Lovegood due to us being unable to wipe her mind. We don't know why. It didn't work last time either. Anyway, you are not forbidden from telling anyone about us just do so discretely, you may need help in your mission. Anthony may visit you from time to time to check up on you or to deliver some advice. If not him then his apprentice. If necessary I will show up. You will not get another chance if you die and I will be severely displeased should someone die who I don't want dead. Do you understand?" Death looked at him sternly.

"What?" Gasped Harry. "No deal breaker. No soul mate as reward." He chuckled shortly, but stopped when death burst out laughing.

"There is no such thing as a soul mate Mr Potter. There are many different matches out there for everyone. For example there are two for you within Hogwarts and no, Miss Weasley is not one of them. Bloody fan girl." He grumbled. "Your matches are Miss Granger and Miss Lovegood. Incidentally there are also two matches within Hogwarts for Mr Longbottom. Miss Bones and Miss Abbott I believe, if my memory serves me correctly." Death held his chin and thought for a while.

"So I have to choose between them." Harry asked looking worried, he didn't know if he could do that. His worrying got worse when he saw Death grin.

"Why Mr Potter, who said anything about having to choose?" As an image entered Harry's mind he suddenly wished he had a body. "You see, as the last scion of a Noble and Most Ancient House you are entitled to have two wives in order to bring your house back, Mr Longbottom is as well. If anyone deserves more love in their lives it's you and Mr Longbottom. I would start on that as soon as possible, before someone else snatches them up and you have to search the world for another match. Trust me, if it isn't a match it won't last." Then Harry thought of something that deflated his bubble.

"But Hermione loves Ron."

"No, she settled for Ron when you showed no interest. Her marriage to him would have ended as soon as their last child had graduated. She loves you, has done since she first saw you on the train. It would have been the same for you, but for the Dursleys."

Harry looked happy again, the images from before returning. He shook the thoughts from his head and indicated that he understood everything and was ready to go back. He was lead through the side door and down a corridor.

"Now Mr Potter, when you get back there will be a small chest under your bed. Only you will be able to open it. Inside will be instructions and lists and most importantly, something that will allow you to contact me, Anthony or his apprentice if you need any explanations." Harry walked up to an old, rarely used door with the words 'Door of Resurrection' printed on the glass. "Just go through and you will be back in a second."

Harry nodded before gripping the handle, turning it and going through.

So there's the first chapter. Please review. This will probably be the last new story I put up for a while, I will try to focus on my other stories for the time being. Bye bye for now.