Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form, nor am I making any money from this story. I do, however, own the plot and any characters that appear in the story that are not apart of the original series.

A Different Reality

By Constellations

- In Which Harry Goes to Hogwarts -

Five years later…

"HARRY! Get that butt of yours out of bed and get dressed! We need to leave in a half an hour." Death's voice rang out.

Blinking sleepily up at the ceiling of his room Harry yawned and rolled out of bed. "All right, all right… I'm up, I'm up." He muttered, slowly walking towards his dresser. Pulling on his clothes he briefly checked his appearance in the mirror, not even bothering to fix his perpetually messy hair, before clambering down the steps for breakfast.

Death was already seated at the table, finishing up a muffin and his traditional cup of tea when Harry entered the kitchen. "So you finally decided to join the living have you?"

Harry made a face as he sat down. "Very funny dad." Picking up a piece of toast, Harry reached for the strawberry jelly and poured some on to the bread, haphazardly spreading the sticky substance around. Scrutinizing the toast to make sure a suitable amount of jelly was present, he then reached for the honey and preceded to glob a healthy amount over the jelly before slapping another piece of toast over the concoction. "Where am I going while you're off at that thing of yours anyways?" asked Harry as he bit into his 'sandwich', jelly and honey oozing out of the sides.

"It's a surprise. And please refrain from referring to the meeting as 'that thing'. It's the Quarter Millennial Immortal Council and Conference," said Death.

Harry grimaced. "It sounds boring. Isn't there any way you can get out of it?"

His adoptive father sighed. "Yes, it is very boring, however, there is no way I can 'get out of it'. Unfortunately, all immortals are required to attend, whether we like it or not."

"Bummer," the boy said in between mouthfuls of food. "So how long am I staying at this mystery place again?"

"Probably 'til around Christmas." Death paused, "Give or take a week or so."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "That's over four months."

"I'm well aware of the time," countered his dad. "The council itself will probably last a month or so, but you know time passes differently from plane to plane. Besides I believe it will do you some good to be around other people."

Harry scowled, "I know plenty of people."

"Yes, and they're all immortals Harry. It's high time you were around other humans… and no, Severus does not count."

"So the human world, eh?" Harry pondered. "Well, that narrows down the list of places to stay considerably."

"Perhaps." Rising from his chair Death asked, "Do you have everything ready to go?"

"Yes, everything is out in the foyer." Harry paused for a second as he also rose from his chair, the honey and jelly sandwich long finished. "Could I take the portrait with me?" He asked as they walked from the kitchen to the foyer.

Death smiled as he replied. "Of course." With a wave of his hand, he summoned the portrait and a moment later it appeared with a soft pop next to Harry's trunks. Death frowned momentarily and with another wave of his hand the portrait shrunk from its usual size (6' by 3') to a foot in height. "That's better, now are you sure you have everything?"

Harry simply nodded as he bent down and picked up the shrunken portrait. Smiling softly, he traced his finger across its frame and gazed lovingly at the picture of his parents. Severus had given it to him last year for his eighth birthday and ever since then; Harry refused to be parted with it.

The portrait of his parents had been painted several months after he had been born (from what his mother had told him anyway) and depicted his parents standing side by side. At the moment, they were both waving at Harry and Lily was beaming brightly up at her son. Occasionally they would turn and talk to each other, but to Harry their voices were only a dull murmur. Being shrunk must have affected their vocal cords as well. Interesting… Deciding he'd think about that later, he smiled back down at his parents and tucked the portrait securely under his arm.

Harry had known while growing up that he and his 'family' were different, that most people do not have an immortal (let alone Death) for a father. But to tell the truth, he didn't really care. Nothing about his life seemed to be normal, so why should his family be? Well that was his reasoning anyway…

He had never really known his parents and Harry did wish that they were still alive, (neither Death nor Severus had ever kept the events surrounding his parents' deaths a secret from him) but ironically he couldn't imagine life without his dad (Death) either. True, he missed his parents and always would… yet they were here with him now, in a way, even if it was in the form of a portrait… for Harry that was enough. He couldn't change the events of the past after all, so the least he could do was take advantage of what he had now… in the present.

Taking his attention away from the shrunken portrait, Harry glanced at his dad. "All set."

Death gave him a reassuring grin. "Don't worry, you're going to have a great time."

"If you say so," Harry mumbled, clutching the portrait tighter.

Death's eyes twinkled with amusement. "And away we go…" Concentrating for a moment on their destination, Death made a quick gesture with his hands and with a blink of an eye they both disappeared, (along with Harry's trunks) leaving behind a small puff of smoke and magic.

Opening his eyes that he hadn't realized he'd closed, Harry glanced around at his surroundings. They seemed to be facing a large lake bordered on one side by an extensive and ancient looking forest. Mountains surrounded the spot and seemed to enclose the valley that the lake was in. The scene was very beautiful and Harry thought it had a picturesque look about it, like something you'd see in traveling brochures.

Turning to Death he asked, "Where exactly are we?"

"Scotland," came his short reply.

"Oh." Harry pivoted around to get a better look at the forest and stopped mid step as he stared at what greeted his eyes.

Built on a rise of rock was an enormous stone castle. Eyes widening, Harry gaped up at the structure. "Oh my."

Death put his hands on Harry's shoulders and looked briefly at the castle. "That, my son, is Hogwarts.

Many thanks to my marvelous beta … Ashley

.

Please review and tell me what you think about what I've written… I love hearing what you have to say! …Constructive criticism, etc is appreciated

.

Thank you to all my reviewers and everyone who took the time to read my story.

Rasgara, Connie Eressea, The Vampire Story Hunter, Lynda, Silver-Enchantress-Elf, crazy-lil-nae-nae

Brenna8 – Well the last part of the chapter answered your question… though I'm sure you meant when he'll be attending school himself… that will be a little later.

Starangel2106 – Death is a character all to himself. He is not someone that we know from the characters of the Harry Potter series… he's a separate entity created from the vast regions of my imagination. I do hope that clears things up for you…(and makes sense)

Kaaera – Well as you see I am sending him off to Hogwarts for a period of time, though he is not yet eleven (I do have my reasons). Harry won't actually attend Hogwarts as a student for a while. I plan to focus on his time at Hogwarts at nine for sometime.

HecateDeMort – I know, as I've said before I'm sure I've been dragging their 'mysterious' relationship out, but the explanation will be within the next several chapters. So unfortunately you'll have to wait (only for a little bit).

DarkKeeper – I'm glad you found it funny. I couldn't help but put that in there.

Regina Lucifer - Thanks, I'm happy you like the story so much.