"Oh Merlin, Harry Potter is dead – I killed him."

"Calm yourself Miss Granger, Mr Potter is not dead. As you can see from his Hippocrates Trail he has a steady flow of magic. All be it currently rather weak. In fact, if you look closely you can see his chest rising and falling. So, Madam Pomfrey what can you tell us?"

"For now, ignoring the anomaly, it seems to be a simple case of magical exhaustion. I have given him some potions and he should be fine by morning. As to what caused the magical exhaustion, I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea. We will just have to wait until he wakes up to tell us what happened. That is if he even knows.

Right now Professors, off with you. I have patients to attend to, and they need their rest, which they cannot get with you here. You can speak to Mr Potter in the morning."

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"Wait, so I am dead then."

"No Mr Potter. As I said you are not dead. I know this may be confusing for you, but please allow me to shed some light on the matter for you. Normally the barrier between the living and the dead restricts my ability to interact with you. However, when unconscious the barrier is weakened, allowing moments like this when we can converse."

"Ok, if I am not dead, why have you come for me? What is so special about me? Why do you want to speak to me? Can I speak to my parents?"

"Slow down Mr Potter. All your questions will be answered in due time.

Unfortunately, I am unable to provide you with access to your parents. The dead stay dead whilst the living must carry on.

As for why you. As a child, you were chosen for a task. I cannot interact with the living, however, you can. You were chosen to be my avatar upon this earth. To go where I cannot, and do what I am unable to do. Next time we meet I will be able to discuss further with you your role as my avatar. However, our time ends, I believe you are in fact waking up. Between now and the next time we meet I need you to look up the Emrys Law of Magic. It will aid in my future explanations."

Left alone, Harry looked around at his surroundings. It appeared to him that he was in the Gryffindor common however cleaner and without dirty 3rd year socks hanging by the fire. Sat alone on one of the couches, Harry sat there contemplating his conversation with death.

Thoughts bounced around Harrys head, "The avatar of Death? What in the hell does this mean - do I have to kill people?"

Slowly Harry began to make out the faint sound of voices, almost as if someone was talking to him from just outside the room. The edges of objects began to fade away until all Harry was left with was a blurry mess giving way to what was an increasingly painful headache.

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A single ray of morning sun shone through a small gap in the curtains of the infirmary somehow managing to strike exactly between the eyes of one Ronald Weasley. Ron grunted and rolled over in his attempt to escape from the light but it had unfortunately managed to do its job and now Ron was awake.

"Ugh!" Ron grunted opening his eyes just a crack. To his surprise, there in the bed over, sitting up reading was the bushy head of Hermione Granger.

"Argghhh!" Shrieked Ron, falling out of bed. "Hermione what the hell are you doing in the boy's dormitory?"

"I'll have you know Ronald, we are currently in the hospital wing. Do you not remember what happened last night – with the troll?"

"Oh yeah. Are you ok. I mean it didn't hurt you, did it? I also – you know - want to say sorry for being rude to you and stuff. You're not a know-it-all, so yeh, sorry."

"Ron, its ok. I promise. I know that sometimes I can come across as bossy and a bit of a know-it-all, and I am sorry about that, I will try to be better. Friends?" Hermione held out her hand for Ron.

"Friends"

With a shake of their hands they both turned to Harry who was beginning to stir in his sleep.

"Urgh! My head"

"Morning Harry"

"Ron shut up will you, my head is killing me." Harry groaned.

"Harry! You're awake."

"Oh, hi Hermione. How are you doing? You're not hurt are you or you Ron either?"

"Nah mate, just a bump on my head."

"I'm good too, thank you for saving me - both of you. It means a lot to me. Look I am sorry for being so bossy to you both. I would love it if we could try and become friends."

"I would like that too."

"Good. Erm Harry do you remember what happened?"

A noise from behind disrupted them from their conversation. Madam Pomfrey walked into the room.

"Good morning Mr Potter. I am glad to see that you are back with us. Please hold your answer for now, the headmaster would very much like to talk to you. You two however are free to go to breakfast."

"But Madam Pom-, "

"No Buts, off with you now. Not you Mr Potter you wait here. I will just go and send for the headmaster. In the meantime, I need you to take these potions."

With that Madam Pomfrey walked back into her office to summon Professor Dumbledore. Ron and Hermione left for breakfast but not without squeezing a promise from Harry that he would tell them what happened later.

Harry lay there in his hospital bed, a particularly annoying spring digging into his lower back, that no matter how much he fidgeted he could not ease.

Laying there lost in his own thoughts he did not hear the headmaster enter the room.

"Ahh Harry, I hope that you are feeling better this morning. I see you, like many others have been unlucky enough to receive the bed with the sticky outey springs. I believe Madam Pomfrey does it on purpose sometimes. Here let me help you."

Professor Dumbledore pulled out his wand, giving it a small flick. Harrys sighed sinking into the now much more comfortable bed. Professor Dumbledore waved his wand again conjuring a bean bag chair in which to sit.

"Ahh I meant to conjure a small armchair. You will forgive me my mind is on many things today, I am sure you can understand. Oh well I suppose this will have to do."

With a small flump Professor Dumbledore plopped himself down in the chair instantly tipping back slightly before correcting himself.

"Now then Harry." Professor Dumbledore said, staring at Harry over the top of his half-moon spectacles. "What can you tell me about the events that transpired in the girls toilets last night?"

Harry thought quickly to himself about what and how much he should tell the professor. He knew that telling the professor or anybody the truth about what the being claiming to be death told harry he was, would be a very bad thing. Throwing up questions Harry had no answer for. However Harry could tell a half truth in regards to what happened with the troll.

"Honestly Professor, I'm not entirely sure. I saw the troll about to hit Ron so I went to grab him. That is pretty much the last thing I remember. After that it is just waking up here."

"Hmm well it seems to me that your magic lashed out in order to protect you, however unfortunately violently it seemed to be. To take a life, even that of a troll can have unforeseen consequences on one's mental health. I trust Harry, that you will not go looking for this power again. We do not know what it is or if it can even be controlled. It could be dangerous not only to those around you but to yourself."

"I promise sir."

"Now with that out the way I must say I was highly impressed with the courage you showed and your desire to help your fellow classmates. I think 30 points are in order for Gryffindor here. Now you rest up and hopefully Madam Pomphrey will release you in time for dinner tonight, word on the grapevine is that there will be a spectacular steak and kidney pudding followed by a lovely spotted dick."

With a grunt Professor Dumbledore tried to swing himself out of his beanbag only to roll back again and tipping to the side. Heaving himself to his feet before adjusting his glasses and rearranging his robes.

"I had best be off now then, with what little dignity I have left after that graceful show."

Harry couldn't help himself any longer and burst out laughing.

"Well they do say laughter is the best medicine." And with that Dumbledore headed out the room and back to his office.

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That night, Professor Dumbledore sat in his office staring blankly at the wall in front of him, his mind rolling over and over what Harry said in the hospital wing. After using a bit of passive legilimency he could tell that Harry was hiding something, just not what. Did he know what that mysterious power was, and if so was the power needed to defeat Voldemort not as he thought previously, love, but was it instead this unknown power. He would need to think on this further.

His thoughts where interrupted by a squawk from his faithful phoenix companion Fawkes, followed a few seconds later by a knock on his office door.

"Come in. Ahh hello Minerva. What can I do for you?"

"Good evening Albus. Might I presume that you have already spoken to Mr Potter?"

"Indeed I have."

"Well…Is he safe to have around the other students? Do I need to do anything?"

"No Minerva. I believe that he is a perfectly safe young gentleman. It seems that the event in the girl's toilets was nothing more than a case of severe accidental magic. However, I would recommend making sure that he avoids circumstances that put his life in danger. Now then, I have a lovely bottle of Ogden's 50yr old calling my name and I have always found it tastes better with a companion."

"Fine Albus, however I will be keeping an eye on the boy. And yes, I would love a wee dram or two."

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As promised Harry was released in time for dinner. Upon entering the great hall, the room went silent as all eyes turned to him. Walking nervously between the tables he made his way to Ron and Hermione and sat down.

"Guys, why is everyone staring at me?"

"I'm just spit balling here, but it could be the rumour that a whopping great troll entered the castle which you shredded to bits. Talking of which, you promised to tell us what happened" Ron replied jokingly.

"Oh yeah. Look I am really hungry. Can we talk about this later?"

"Fine Harry," Replied Hermione, "However don't think we will let this slide."

Eventually, the rest of the school lost interest in staring at Harry, and the room once again rose in volume as hundreds of voices competed to be heard. Harry however sat there in silence and despite his claims about being hungry, he spent most of the meal pushing a single new potato around his plate. He was unable to take his mind off that being. How could it have spoken to Harry? Was his imagination running wild? He didn't think so, but to claim to be death? It couldn't be real, could it? No, it must have been a delusion brought on by his unconscious mind. There was no such thing as the embodiment of death, let alone the avatar of death. He was dreading his chat with Ron and Hermione later. What would they think about him? And most importantly what should he tell them, was he going to lose both his best friend and the one other friend he had, so soon after they had become friends.

With this thought fresh in Harry's mind he made his way out of the great hall, followed closely by Ron and Hermione.