Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and Co. J.K. Rowling does.
Summary: Death comes to pay the boy-who-keeps-avoiding-him a visit. How is Harry going to explain Death's presence to his friends? Think "Meet Joe Black".
Author's note: This is a sixth year fic, so the fifth book does apply. But you don't have to have read the fifth book to enjoy this! Oh, and the next chapter will be much more coherent. This is kind of like a prologue (a teaser, if you will).
Chapter 1: Meet Death
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Death watched the battle taking place in front of the fountain inside the Ministry. He had already taken care of all the people there whose time had come. Now he was enraptured with the battle that was taking place before him. He felt like he knew the boy with the scar. How often the boy threw himself at Death, only to find out that it was not his time to leave the living world.
And the man with the glowing red eyes. The man who had visited Death. The man had been so delighted to find out that it was not his time, either. This man puzzled Death. What motivated him to kill so many, and yet run so determinedly from Death?
The man with the glowing eyes was not faring so well in the battle. But he need not worry—his time was not now. Death was simply watching the battle because it involved two people with whom he was interested in. Granted, the year before that had been much more… intricate between the man and the boy, but this year seemed much more… personal.
The battle was ending and Death's concentration was needed elsewhere. But the boy intrigued him. Far from fearing the man who had killed so many people, he only became more determined to fight him.
Death decided that he would watch the boy from time to time. His life seemed… complex, and oddly difficult for someone his age.
All throughout the next summer, Death breezed by and observed the boy every now and then. The boy got letters from his friends, visits from various adults, and seemed, at least, to… coexist with his aunt, uncle, and cousin.
The boy fascinated Death. Death was used insanity, paranoia, chin-deep depression, even suicide from the people who have faced war and brutality. But here was a boy that seemed to be the very center of death and cruelty, and yet he could still plod on with his life and do what other people expected of him.
One day, Death decided that he would visit the boy. See what the boy's life was like. Try to understand why the boy kept flinging himself in Death's direction. The boy had so much emotion in his life. Indeed, he seemed to be entirely ruled by emotion. Reason and rational seemed to be buried in the back of his mind. It did not matter how often or how reasonably the adults warned the boy. Death saw how they whispered "Don't go outside tonight" or cautioned "Block your dreams". But all the warnings they gave were cast to the wind if the boy believed danger was close, especially if it concerned his friends. Emotion was his driving force. He had such a level of passion and occasionally… senselessness that Death had seen in very few people. That is, in very few people who lived for so long. Usually, people with that kind of personality had very short life spans.
This is why Death chose to visit Harry Potter. Besides, he knew the boy would have to acquiesce to Death's demands, and Death had not visited the world of the living in centuries. This boy would be the ideal host. A host who had friends and enemies, knew pain and happiness, and, most importantly, would be able to explain to Death what these emotions were all about.
There! That's the first chapter. But really, you must stay tuned for the next chapter. It's got dialogue (wow!), creepy voices, and the beginning of a great plot (at least, I think so…). Harry meets Death (or the boy whose body Death has inhabited), Death annoys Harry, and friends are endangered. It's going to be fun.