Eternal

Silence. That's all that greeted Harry as he died. No Dumbledore. No parents. No friends. Not even Albus, his son had died fighting the newest Dark Lord some ten years previously. Harry shivered at the cold that whipped around the now deserted King's Cross. No trains were there. It was darkness, not searing light anymore. Wait a minute…cold? He was dead, how could he feel the cold?

"You're not dead you know." A voice called out from the darkness. It was a soft and inviting voice and sounded vaguely familiar. Harry couldn't help but feel a sense of dread.

Harry looked around for the source as they stepped forwards, out of the shadows. He only needed to look into the other person's eyes to know who it was. He couldn't be here! He was dead! Reduced to worse than the most pitiful creature, yet he was here, whole and looking at Harry with some amusement.

"Voldemort." Harry spat, reaching for a non-existent wand.

"Actually, it's Tom Riddle." Voldemort said calmly, looking at Harry with mild interest "Voldemort is gone. Now, do you want to know why I am here to greet you, Potter?"

"To kill me?" Harry said pointedly.

Riddle's read eyes shone with amusement/

"My dear Harry, you're already dead. Well, technically you're not; oh it's all very confusing isn't it? You are dead, yet you can return to the world of the living, if you so choose."

"I can go back to life?" Harry asked, confused.

"Of course you can, not as Harry Potter, of course. As Marcus Black, the illegitimate grandson of Regulus Black."

"Say I go back though, what's in it for you, Riddle?" Harry asked, genuinely wondering what Riddle's ulterior motive was. Probably something to do with survival Harry thought.

"Firstly, you have little choice in the matter. As Master of Death, you can either go back to life as Marcus Black and live the long, happy life you deserve, or you stay trapped in this hellish place for all eternity, the light never turning on, the cold never fading, with only me as company. Secondly, you do this and I get to be your guide in life, a form of ghost I shall be, visible only to you."

"Like Quantum Leap?" Harry asked.

"Quantum what?" Riddle enquired.

"Never mind, continue." Harry said

"Finally, if you succeed and live a long happy life, when you die and pass on to the next adventure, I get to go with you, away from this and on to eternal peace. That's my reason for doing this, Potter. I knew you'd guess I had an ulterior motive in all of this.

"Why not just cross now?" Harry asked.

"Because I can't. Fate, the one who engineered this, cursed me when I arrived here, I cannot cross over until you do, so for both our sakes, please try to succeed Potter."

With that, Riddle waved his hand and Harry's world went black.

As Harry awoke he heard screams. Looking around, he realised the cries were coming from his own mouth, looking down; he saw he had small, meaty arms and even smaller meaty fingers.

"Riddle!" He cursed inside his head.

Suddenly, he heard a voice inside his head.

"Hello to you too Harry. Or should I say, Marcus?"

"What did you do to me, Riddle?"

"I?" Came a voice to his right, looking over, he saw a ghostly form of Voldemort in the room, his new mother and midwife didn't notice anything as Marcus was cradled in her arms. "I did nothing, Fate, however, decided you were to continue I'm here to guide you in your boring, mundane life."

"Hang on; you're saying I'm a muggle?"

"Correct. No wizards here to pester you with pleas for help and whatever. Now, sleep." Riddle said as Marcus closed his eyes.