Name: Beyond the Realm

Plot: In which Harry learns that death is really just the beginning.

Warnings: There will be slash. But it's not the central part of the fic, it won't really even have a shining spot in it, it will just be mentioned every now and again, much the same with all other types of pairings. I won't be focusing on pairings, as they're unimportant to the story itself.

There will be a main character death, abuse and murder.

Dumbledore bashing. I don't know how much there will be, but it will be there.

I can't think of anything else. There won't be any sexual themes, the M rating is mostly for the random use of bad language that will pop up and the whole...murder part.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series or any of the characters or places involved. I'm not making money from writing and posting this, it is purely for enjoyment purposes only.

-Line Break-

Harry Potter laid barely breathing on the normally pristine floor of the kitchen in Number 4 Privet Drive, though he was sure by now it was covered in his blood, normally he would have to clean such things, even if he wasn't really up to it, but he wasn't sure he would actually make it to the point of getting to clean it at the moment.

He wasn't sure he'd make it to the next five minutes if he were being totally honest with himself. The once sharp pain that had been in the back of his head had dulled out, his entire body had long become numb as he listened to his aunt and uncle argue over him. They had decided that it was in their better judgment to send him to the hospital, knowing full well that he might not even make it to the hospital in the state he was in.

He remembered what had triggered it, if he made it out of this alive, he wasn't entirely sure he would ever forget what had happened. It had been a pretty normal day, he had been woken up by his aunt knocking none so softly on the door of his cupboard, been told to make breakfast and set up the table and that had been his downfall.

His wrist had hurt so much, he was pretty sure it was broken, if the bruising and swelling were anything to go by, he wouldn't say that out loud, he knew his relatives wouldn't care about anything that didn't stop him from working. He had picked up the stack of plates, two rather large plates and one smaller plate to put them on the table when his wrist had twinged, causing them to fall from his hands quite spectacularly. He was sure there was a few pieces of glass embedded into his legs, not that it mattered much anymore.

It was getting hard to think. His thoughts moving more sluggishly as it became harder for him to breath. Oh, he wondered if he would see his parents, he'd never seen them before, he wondered if his parents would even want to see him. His aunt had told him that they had died because they didn't want him, so it didn't make sense to him that they would ever want him.

He heard the shrill sirens of the hospital people, his vision was fading, his chest hurt as he tried to cling to live, though he knew it was fruitless, his mind trying to make it pump faster, but all it was doing was slowing down so much more. He took a shuddering breath, looking through hazy eyes as the people rushed in, stretcher following them as they quickly assessed the damage and transferred him to the stretcher, racing back out with him.

The world was starting to sound like what being underwater sounded like, he didn't like being underwater, it made his chest hurt, much like it was hurting now, but he knew there was no water. Even as the men told him to stay with them, even as they shoved needles under his skin, trying to keep him conscious long enough to get him to the hospital, his vision tunneled more and more before tapering off as his mind finally lost it's sluggish battle with his body and he let the darkness take him.

His soul left his body, though if he had been paying attention, he would have noticed a tether that was still there, a dark mass holding him to the corporeal world.

He turned and let himself be brought closer to the clouds, not knowing that his journey was only just beginning.

-Prologue End-