From the moment he had grasped the Elder Wand he had known that there was more to the story than just a made up work of fiction. Really, he had known since visiting the Lovegood's house, but this had cemented it. So when he fell asleep that night and found himself floating in a seemingly empty void of blackness, he wasn't all that surprised. The place did not seem to have an end, but was, at the same time filled entirely by a magic not belonging to any wizard.

"I guess this means what I think it does then," he sighed, dragging his fingers through his hair.

"Yepperdoodle!" answered an overly cheerful voice from behind him. He turned around and saw Death, sitting cross legged in the dark expanse. Death was… an interesting character to say the least.

Many never bothered to imagine Death as a creature resembling a human, far preferring the dark robed figure they had created. Those who did usually thought of Death as older, stoic and solid, made of harsh lines and an unforgiving presence.

The first thing that caught Harry's attention was the shock of orange hair, far paler than the fire of the Weasleys. The next was how young the being appeared. Harry knew Death was far older than most could begin to comprehend, but his physical body looked not much older than Harry himself did.

Death did not radiate a dark gloom, but instead seemed to glow in the black emptiness of the place around them.

"So," he began, mirroring the cross legged position of the man in front of him, "what exactly… does all of this mean? Xenophilius said something about the Master of Death, but…"

"Well, you're right, that is your… official title. In the big picture though, it doesn't mean much, at least, not in the ways people might think.

"I'll always hear when you call for me, and you will hear me. It's like, a kind of mind link I guess, but not as creepy and invasive as that awful man you were connected to before. There was a time, way back, when you would've been helping me with collections and stuff like that. Now though, I've got the Shinigami who do the collecting along with me. I might set you up with them to help out on more difficult jobs.

"Honestly though, it's probably not gonna be a big deal… I suppose I should tell you that you're technically immortal now."

"What!?"

Death shrugged, looking a little sheepish.

"I mean, yeah… I couldn't really have you getting old and dying on me now could I? I didn't go to all that work of making sure it was you that ended up here, just for you to die!"

"I… I mean I guess, but still… "

"Don't worry, you won't end up by yourself, Harry. I won't let you. There are others through these universes, who live in the same unaging state as you. And if you hate them all, well, you've always got me!" And with that Death looked at him with such a bright hopeful grin that Harry couldn't help but soften, giving him a smile in return.

"Now, I know you thought you were slick, abandoning the stone in the woods and breaking the wand,"

Harry, although not exactly remorseful, shrunk down under the exasperated look on Death's face.

"But I fixed all of that, and this time you have to keep them. I left them on your nightstand, you should find them when you wake up. A word of advice, however, I wouldn't leave that wand just lying around. I know you trust your friends, but that Wesley boy had a lot of ideas for that wand."

Harry opened his mouth to defend Ron, before pausing. He had seen the greedy look in his friend's eyes, and knew how much he had wanted that wand. It had been part of the reason Harry had gotten rid of it. Maybe Death had a point.

"Is that… really all? It seems almost too simple,"

"Well, you might have some changes throughout the next few weeks. The whole, Master of Death thing means you're important, and also means you're a bit distanced from your peers now. Let's see… how do I explain this? Hmm… I mean, y'know how families generally look similar, because they came from the same place? Same genes and stuff?"

"Yeah…?"

"Okay, so, this whole thing brings you way closer to me, and that means your magic is going to change to account for that, and it's probably going to make some changes to your physical body as well. Nothing too drastic, don't worry, but you'll definitely feel a difference."

Before Harry was able to sort through his thoughts, Death looked around, apparently noticing something that Harry did not.

"It's morning now, you should wake up. Don't worry, Master, I'll see you soon."

When Harry opened his eyes, he felt more refreshed from sleep than he had in years. Nightmares took more out of him than he had realized. Grabbing his glasses, he saw the Hallows on his nightstand, just like Death had promised.

"At least I know it wasn't just some weird dream," he muttered to himself before hauling himself out of bed. Death had set the stone back into the ring, gold glimmering even in the dim light coming through the curtains. He didn't want Ron and Hermione to know about all of this, at least not until he could actually figure out the whole situation. Both items would be recognized easily by either of them, so Harry simply left them on his bed with the curtains shut until he could get either his trunk or a new bag.

Walking into the bathroom, he was going to take a shower before realizing he didn't actually have any clothes to change into. Stopping in the middle of the room, he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror, something he had not taken the time to look at properly for months. He was thinner than he had been when they had left the Weasley's, making him nearly skeletal, with pronounced cheekbones and sunken eyes. His skin was pale, and his hair hung in greasy sheets around in his face.

He hadn't bothered to cut it for so long, it almost reached his shoulders now.

Debating on whether or not to get clean and simply put his old clothes back on, he was startled when another person suddenly appeared in the room with him.

"Hey, Master!"

Spinning around, Harry almost plummeted backwards to the floor, but caught himself just in time on the sink.

"Shit!" taking a deep breath, he let it out in a relieved sigh. Pulling himself up, he turned to fully face Death. "Alright, first things first, hello, please don't do that again."

"Oops,"

"Second, please, just call me Harry,"

"I mean, I guess," Death shrugged before suddenly snapping his fingers.

All at once, Harry felt the grime covering his body practically melt away, and his rags were replaced with new clothes. Clothes that, besides his school uniform, were the first things to fit him in years.

"I know you probably want to get started with helping clean up the castle as soon as you can because that's who you are, but please, eat something first? You're too skinny, Harry."

"I…Thank-"

"Oh, you don't need to thank me, Harry! You're-"

But whatever Death had started to say was abruptly cut off when he disappeared. A second later Ron stumbled into the bathroom, still looking half asleep.

"Were you talking to someone in here, Harry?" Ron seemed to notice something was different because he took a minute to just look at Harry. "Did you take a shower? Where'd you get clean clothes? Did someone come up here to give them to you?"

"Um, yeah, one of the other Gryffindor boys was in here, he let me borrow some clothes. He left just before you came in."

"Huh."

They just stood there for a moment, neither quite sure what to say to break the awkward silence. Finally, Ron seemed to shake it off and start walking towards the showers.

"Well, if I'm awake I'll bet Hermione is too. Could you see if you can get me a new set of clothes from that bag of hers?"

Grateful for a task he agreed, quickly moving to go down to the common room.

"Thanks, mate."