-Author's Note-

This is my first ever written story. I appreciate any and all reviews. Constructive criticism is welcome, while hateful bashing without giving a reason is not. Thank you.

Chapter One

The Master's Return

Harry walked into the Forbidden Forest after watching Snape's memories. After watching the scene of Dumbledore telling Snape that he had to die, not just die, but die at Voldemort's wand, he snuck outside alone. He was a bit surprised to see Snape's reaction and anger at Dumbledore for his scheming; of organizing this from the start. When he heard that his scar, his stupid, famous, boy-who-lived scar, held a piece of the-idiot-who-was-so-scared-to-die-he-mutilated-his-soul-and-turned-himself-into-a-noseless-snake-faced-monster's soul. He wouldn't tell anyone what it was that he saw in the pensive before rushing away. He knew that even if anyone watched the memories for themselves, it would take too long for any of them to try to stop him. So, he walked alone to his death, without saying good-bye to anyone. This would be the last thing he would do for the wizarding world. The last thing he would give. He would give his life, to finally stop Voldemort. He'd be able to see his parents again.

A small smile crept onto his face at that thought. He would miss people and felt slightly guilty about leaving Hermione, the Weasleys, and the rest of his Hogwarts friends, but he knew they'd be fine and move on eventually. This was as much for them as it was for himself. He would finally be done with all the pain, stress, attention, and the unreasonable reactions to everything he did and didn't do. So, straightening his back and putting the gifted snitch in his pocket, he walked on to meet Voldemort and his death munchers. Getting closer to the clearing, he started to feel a calm come over him. He was finding peace in the knowledge that all would be over soon. Stepping through the last of the trees, he smiled.

Looking around, he saw that a few of the death munchers didn't even bother trying to hide their faces with masks. Everyone was sure that the end was decided. And they were right, just not in the way they thought. Finally, his eyes landed on Mr. tall, pale, and scaly. His smile stretched just that slightly bigger.

"Hello Tom. Are you ready for this? We don't have too much time. I'm sure someone will be making their way to follow me soon. But before we do this, I have but one question." Harry stated this in such a calm voice that it took everyone by surprise. They were expecting a scared little boy, not this confident, and obviously crazy young man talking to their master like this.

Even Voldemort himself was slightly shocked, but that was being heavily overpowered by anger at the use of that stupid muggle name. his hand was twitching to curse him.

"CRUCIO!" Harry writhed and twitched on the floor, refusing to scream. Taking deep breaths once the curse was lifted. He stood up and brushed the dirt on his clothes with a slightly twitching hand.

Voldemort knew he had to get control again, so forcing an obviously fake smile on his face and charming voice he responded and tried to taunt. "But of course, Young Harry. I'll be taking your useless life soon. I'm sure we don't mind sating your little curiosity. Ask away."

"Great! Thanks. So, I was just wondering why and how you managed to get all of your PURE-BLOOD followers, when you yourself are a half-blood son of a squib and an arrogant muggle deadbeat.

Writhing on the ground and getting a surprised scream, Harry was on the ground being tortured again. Getting his breath back again after a few seconds, Harry went on and continued talking.

"I mean doesn't that just scream that the blood supremacy is wrong when we all know that you have a lot of power behind yourself, as do other half-bloods and muggle-borns. WAIT! I don't mean disrespect and you already said I could ask." Harry held his hands up when he saw Voldy's wand twitching its way upwards again. Taking a steadying breath, he started again. "I mean with all the inbreeding, the pure-bloods are the weakest and have the most problems. Dumbledore, half-blood, me, half-blood, you, half-blood, Hermione Granger, Muggle-born, all very smart and massively powerful people. Gregory Goyle, pure-blood, Vincent Crabbe, Pure-blood, Marcus Flint, pureblood, all showing very poor performance in power and intelligence. I'm just saying. So first, how did you get these fools to follow you, and second, why would you want them to in the first place? If you had a problem with how certain parents treated their children, why not work on that and get some of your minions in the ministry to put laws into place to help them. Or install an adoption program after abducting muggle-borns as babies and raising them here so they are in the wizarding world from the start, also we all know that they are actually just decedents of squibs anyways, so they are links with the lost families. But whatever, I guess it doesn't really matter now. And I do realize that this was more than just the one question. I was just wondering, but since I'll be dying soon it doesn't matter much one way or the other. I just wanted to give you all some food for thought. Oh, one more thing." Harry looked away from the absolutely pissed and disturbed death munchers and Dark Lord to face Narcissa Malfoy.

"Ma'am, I just wanted to let you know that Draco is still alive and safe. Dumbledore's last request was the safety and forgiveness of Draco. So, he has been forced in the infirmary with a few others who are either too injured to fight, forbidden for being too young, or in Draco's case, for the safety for people on both sides and himself. And when this is all over, no matter who wins this there is a safety protocol in place, and if you and your family get together say the phrase he has been given and you will be taken to safety. Oh, don't worry about the others hearing this, they will hear me asking you questions similar to the ones I asked the Dark Lord. As the current head of both Potter and Black houses, I grant you asylum at Black Manor in Canada. Draco will not get the Head of Household of Black from me, but your sister Andromeda, shall. She will be the only one who knows your location after I die. I hope you two can reconnect through this. Bellatrix will never be granted access and has been removed from the black family. I don't know what she was like before Azkaban, but I know that she is not sane enough to ever be around family safely. She also killed Sirius and gloats about it, not to mention what she did to the Longbottoms. So, I apologize if this is upsetting to you, but she will never be granted access to ANY Black property, even after I die.

"Her vaults have been emptied of all dark, cursed, and deadly objects. The Goblins cleansed them for a small fee, took a MUCH larger portion of galleons for a fee for having a horrible, cursed, goblin-made objected, that had been tampered with, and made to hold a piece of the Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Soon-to-Be-Dead's soul, which just so happens to be a forbidden practiced that has been wiped from almost all the history books and records. But you don't need to know about that, so don't worry about it. All you need to know is that I opened a vault for Draco with a little over quarter of all Lestrange money and assets. The rest has been distributed between the Longbottoms, the Tonks, and me. No need to worry about what will happen to my share and vaults, just know that your family will not be destitute, but since Andromeda will oversee the Black holdings, your family will still have to find work eventually. Now," he took a deep breath and straightened his back and allowed others to hear him continue and faced Voldemort again, "I think I've spent enough time talking and asking questions. Let's get this on with. Eh Tommy boy?" Harry smiled, opened his arms as if waiting for a hug.

"You're so ready to die, Potter? Is this what is left of their savior? Shall I let them know how you asked for death?" Voldemort just sneered at him. "Since you seem to know that it is hopeless to stand against me, I will ask one last time. Join me. Join me, since you and I know that we are both powerful and supposedly equals. Join me and stand by my side. We could be great together. The world would tremble at our feet. It would be ours for the taking." Surprising everyone again, Voldemort offered his hand, palm up, and his other hand with the wand pointing down. Even more surprising, Harry stepped forward. And then walked right past the hand and right up to the Dark Lord. Surprising the Dark Lord, Harry leaned in a whispered in his ear.

"We both know that we may be equals, but it would be you who is trembling before me. You who wants to join me, to be with me, and stand with me. And while I can see, feel, and hear what it is you want from me, you are literally a soulless creature, and I cannot and will not join you. I am not sorry." Stepping back, Harry looked his parent's killer in the eyes and showed his seriousness and resolve, freely leaving his mind open to him. With barely contained rage, embarrassment, and fear, he brushed against Harry's mind. He saw that all of this Horcruxes had been discovered and destroyed. With renewed rage, he killed Harry with a scream. Voldemort could only feel thankful that nobody had heard their whispered conversation or what he had seen. As the green light enveloped Harry, Voldemort staggered back a bit, realizing that another of his soul pieces had just been destroyed. Looking at Harry's face, he noticed the happy smile on his face. The only thing he could think of through his frustrated anger was, 'CRAP!'.

~~~~~HP~~~~~

Harry looked around himself, at the endless fields of garden, hoping to see his parents, instead he saw a tall dark cloaked figure. He knew who he was. Death. Walking over, without fear, thinking that he had to talk to him and be sent on before getting to see his parents. However, before Harry could say anything, Death bowed and spoke in a strangely smoothly voice. It was raspy, but not unpleasant, however it was undistinguishable of being male or female.

"Master. Greetings. I have been awaiting your arrival. I have sent your parents to deal with the meddlesome old man that tried to steal your rightful place as my master. His attempts were for greed and guilt. Stealing your cloak from you vault after arranging for your father's death, seducing Grindelwald for the wand, and being a fool to try to use the stone when it was placed in a cursed ring. He tried very hard to become master of death, but failed each time. You were my master long before Harry Potter was born. All of my objects belong to you. It doesn't matter who holds them or steals them, they belong to you and you alone. I know you are probably a bit confused and bursting with questions. So why don't we get settled for a bit and I can answer all your questions, Master."

Suddenly, finding himself sitting down in a large, plush seat, in a tastefully furnished room, Harry had to blink a few times to readjust to new environment and then trying to process the massive information dump dropped by Death. Death, who was sitting across from him. Death, who he was somehow the master of. Death. Harry had to blink a few more times. Suddenly he remembered something Death said about his parents before the revelation about Dumbledore. What an utter wanker Dumbledore turned out to be. But first he wanted to know about his parents.

Clearing his throat, Harry asked what he really wanted to know. "Um, Death, Sir, will I be able to see my parents when they get done with Dumbledore?"

"First, you're my Master, you don't have to call me 'Sir'. Secondly, yes. Your parents will come by after they finish up Dumbledore. When they get here, I'll give you your time and space with them. However, before they get here, I figured I could answer your questions and then ask when you wanted to go back. You would of course remember your memories and be given full access to your and my powers if and when you decide to go back. Change things a bit here and there, save some lives, make some friends, evade some enemies, and avoid meddlesome, manipulating headmasters who constantly endanger their students. That sort thing. We can spend time on training your skills, and you can spend time with your parents, and then at the end of everything, I'll ask if you wish to go back and when. I would suggest the earlier the better. But we would remove the soul fragment from your scar before sending you back. That piece of soul died when you did and has been sent on. Let's see, what else should we discuss before your parents get here and you get distracted? Oh! Yes, we'll talk about what your powers will be. Splendid! So, you'll obviously have the power to call upon me, talk with me, and have me do things for you. You'll have the power of invisibility, without the cloak. You'll have the power to grab, control, destroy, or send on souls. You'll be able to interact with the dead, without going insane. You'll be able to travel anywhere, everywhere, at any time through a Death Door.

"You'll be able to make a Death Door." He added as if the idea just came to him that he should add that to the endless list too. "You'll have a natural shield for your mind, better than the best Legilimency and Occlumency master could hope to breach or create. IF you want, we could make you a metamorph, and give you the choice between multiple animagi forms as well. We'll discuss that more if you want to do that later. You'll be able to control, understand, communicate with, and not be affected by, dementors. You'll be able to do wandless magic. All the magical blocks Dumbledore places on you, will be removed, same with the tracking charms. Hmmmm, let's see, let's see, I mean obviously you can't die until you wish to and can always change your mind later. Oh, and another thing is you'll be immune to Love potions. I made sure to add that one. Especially when I saw the Weasleys dosing you at every meal you had with them. You'll be immune from all artificial emotion and mind influencer. Just to be on the safe side. You'll be able to actually see magic after we correct your eyes. You'll also be able to feel others' intentions to help keep impostors and enemies away and trustworthy friends close. You'll be able to talk to all animals and creatures, so Dumbles will still believe you to be a Parslemouth. Since all creatures and animals have free will, you can't control them, technically. You can ask, request, command, order, all of that and they will follow your word, but they technically have the option to refuse. They just won't. All creatures and animals will know who and what you are, magical and non-magical. They just won't inform humans without your permission." Death finished and stood up. "We'll discuss more later. We'll start your training tomorrow, but for now your parents are here, and I'm sure you'll want to talk and reconnect. Have a good day, Master. Just call out if you need me." With a final bow Death disappeared, just as a door he didn't notice before opened and his parents came in.

With barely time to blink, he was enveloped in their arms. Filled with so much joy, he let himself cry into their shoulders. After a long time, he managed to choke out a broken and emotion filled, "Mum. Dad."

-Author's Note-

I Don't Own Harry Potter or any of the Characters from J.K. Rowling's work