Harry was restless

Since the end of the battle of hogwarts he had felt antsy and paranoid, unable to accept the silence that permeated the castle that was, until a few hours ago, full of the sounds of war, full of the screams and cries of the dead or dying; explosions from spells and potions shaking the very foundation of the ancient castle.

But now it was silent, and never in his life did Harry think that silence could be so deafening. So he walked, away from his friends and allies, sleeping comfortably where they could, and away from the dead, laying in the great hall awaiting their burials. He walked until he ended up in front of a familiar portrait of a bowl of fruit. With a slight smile he tickled the pear, opening the entrance to the kitchens, where a very peculiar sight greeted him.

Sitting at a lone table in the corner of the kitchens, was a sallow man with slicked back hair, he was tall and thin, dressed in a simple, yet refined business suit. He almost reminded him of Professor Mcgonagall in the stern look he gave Harry as he slowly stepped into the kitchen, wand in his hand.

"You can put that away." The man drawled, his voice bored and disinterested as a house elf walked fearfully over with a Shepherds Pie, cut into several pieces, the elf quickly deposited it onto the table in front of the man and put silverware and a plate in front of him before disappearing. "I'm not here to fight."

"Who are you?" Harry questioned, wand still out.

"A friend." he said, carefully depositing a slice on his plate, he looked up as the elf returned with a goblet, he took it and took a small drink, "Hmm...mead, been ages since i've had it." he said, looking at the elf, "get one for him too."

"Yes lord…" he squeaked, disappearing.

"I won't ask you to put your wand up again, Mr. Potter." he said, his whole being radiating a power that made Harry step back. It was an old, ancient aura that seemed to suffocate the entire room, the house elf that had been waiting on him quickly cowered to the ground, clutching the goblet that it had gotten for Harry to its chest.

Harry slowly put his wand away, not taking his eyes off the man for a second, no sooner had his hand left the wand, did the presence disappear.

"Finally," the man sniffed, "out of everyone who's ever bound me, you're not the smartest, are you Mr. Potter?"

"Who are you?" Harry asked again, carefully taking a seat across from the man.

"Well, I've gone by many names over the years, but I think you know me best, as Death."

"Death?" Harry asked, his voice cracking slightly in disbelief.

"Is there an echo in here?" he asked dryly, "yes, Mr. Potter, I am Death, and as you can imagine, I am a very busy being, so wrap your head around it, accept it, and move on so I can say what I need to and leave."

Harry let out a breath, "If...if you're Death...then why are you here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked, looking up from his food, "I'm here to congratulate you, and thank you."

"For...what?"

He raised an eyebrow, "eat." he said, slowly putting one of the steaming slices onto a plate in front of Harry, "these house elves make an excellent Shepherd's Pie, though I believe a small Inn outside of Dublin has the best."

Harry stared at Death for a few minutes before biting into the pie, pleasantly surprised at the taste.

"Now," Death started, carefully depositing another slice onto his own plate, "the best way to explain why i'm here, is to explain why I'm so interested in you." he waved his goblet and the elf quickly scampered forward to refill it, "for the better part of this century, a certain...gnat has been flying about my head, annoying me whenever it got the chance."

"A Gnat?" Harry asked.

"Indeed, now, I've swatted annoying gnats before, but this one proved...difficult." he cast a lazy gaze at Harry, "For reasons beyond mortal comprehension, the fool went and split his soul up in seven parts."

Harry felt his blood freeze, "you...you're talking about Voldemort…"

Death nodded, "he has escaped my clutches for a long time, Mr. Potter, with those Horcrux of his;I daresay if you hadn't hunted them down then I would have been waiting a very long time before collecting him."

"But if you knew about the Horcrux, then how come you didn't go after them?" Harry asked, his temper rising slightly.

"Because the process in which one makes a Horcrux protects the soul from even my power." he leaned back, "which means I couldn't get anywhere close to them, I had to sit and wait, until a certain, scrawny hero destroyed them one. By. one." he looked at Harry, giving him a halfway respectful nod, "and for that I thank you, Mr. Potter, for if you hadn't of done this, then that supposed 'dark lord' would be waltzing around, plunging the world further into chaos then needed; so I feel that I owe you, a gift, " he waved his hand and what remained of the pie disappeared; and what replaced it, were three very familiar objects.

"The Deathly Hallows…" Harry muttered.

"Indeed," he said, "Now, by rights the cloak is yours, however, I'm giving you the choice to take another Hallow, and then I will destroy the other one forever ridding myself of this particular chain."

Harry eyed the Resurrection Stone, his hand slowly moving towards it, then stopped, slowly shaking his head, 'No...I don't want either." he said with an air of finality.'

"Oh?" Death asked, raising an eyebrow, "and why not?"

"I...I don't need them." he said, "maybe during the war...or during that final battle...but now? I don't...need them…"

"Hmm…"Death waved his hand and the wand burst into flames and the stone exploded into dust, making Harry's eyes widen, "it's good you didn't choose either." he said, matter of factly, "in all honesty, neither truly worked."

"What?" Harry asked in surprise.

"When I first made these artifacts, I made them with the intention of collecting the souls that had been cheated from me." Death said, sweeping away the dust and Ash, "the wand was meant to inflate the wielders ego, make them believe they were untouchable by their enemies, it can do wondrous magic, but it's the same as any other wand, a tool, and when you misuse a tool, it has a very nasty habit of failing when you need it most." he looked into Harry's eyes, making the boy shift uncomfortably.

"The stone." Death continued on, looking to the house elf, who was bringing forth treacle tart, "was never meant to resurrect souls."

"But in the forest, it brought back-" Harry started.

"-it summoned wraiths," Death said flatly, cutting the boy off as he dropped a dollop of whipped cream onto his dessert "wraiths whose job it was to ease a person to their death. Tell me, Mr. Potter, when you spoke with your Godfather in the forest, did he not tell you how easy it was to die? That you wouldn't feel a thing? Did he not lull you into a sense of peace and security so that you could easily accept your death?"

Harry looked down, "but...he was just…"

"Just trying to help?" Death asked, "Yes well, having spoken with Sirius Black at his passing, I can assure you that he would not have allowed you to simply walk to your death. The man isn't one to go quietly into the night, nor is he one to allow others to do so."

"Why…" Harry asked quietly, "why would you give these things to people...play with their emotions?"

"I am old, Mr. Potter." Death said, taking a bite of the tart, "I have been here since before the beginning of time, I have reaped every soul that has ever come into this world, as well as every world that has ever been, there are debates in Heaven on whether It was God who came first, or me, and by the end, i will reap his soul too; now try and understand how...insignificant this makes the average human to me." he gave him a lazy look, "the only time I actively intervene is when a soul attempts to cheat me of their destiny."

Harry ran a hand through his hair, letting out a sigh, "so...so why come to me after all of this? Why offer me trinkets that don't even work?"

"I wanted to see what would happen." he said simply, "I wanted to see if you learned the lesson that Antioch, Cadmus, Tom Riddle, and so many others failed to learn."

"And that lesson is?"

"That no one can escape death; it is the one absolute truth in this universe, and attempting to escape it, to circumvent and haggle your way out, will always have consequences." Death looked at the last half of the pizza, then to Harry, "Ignotus was the only one that I have ever had the honor of meeting that knew this truth; which is why he took the invisibility cloak off when it was his time, and why his Hallow is the only one to truly work." he stood, primly wiping his mouth of any crumbs and dusting his suit off with a flick of his hand, "now, Mr. Potter, since you have denied the Hallows, I feel the need to give you a...consolation prize," he pulled a silver pocket watch out of his pocket, he clicked it once and put it up, "you have three hours Mr. Potter, try not to waste them."

"Waste what?" Harry asked as the room suddenly went dark, when the lights returned, Death was gone, "what was he talking about…"

"Harry?" a quiet, tentative voice asked from behind him, making Harry stiffen up.

"He didn't…" Harry whispered, slowly turning around.

They looked much the same that they did when he saw them in the forest, but different all together, the clothes they wore were wrinkled and covered in dust, his glasses were slightly askew and cracked, while her hair was wild and looked like a hurricane had hit it. But both were staring at Harry in shock.

"Bloody hell…" James Potter whispered as he ran his hand through his hair, "I thought he was lying to us when he said he'd do it…"

Lily Potter slowly stepped forward, "harry.' she said again, hands hesitantly reaching towards her son.

Harry shook his head, "No...this isn't real, you're not real-" he stopped as Lily wrapped him in a hug, "you're not real." Harry sobbed as he collapsed into his mothers embrace, all the while Lily whispered soothingly, "shush sweetie, it's alright, mummy's here, mummy's right here."

James wrapped them both up in a warm hug, "we are so proud of you Harry," James said, his voice shaking with raw emotion, tears falling unashamedly as he held his family, "you're a better man than I could have ever hoped to be, thank merlin you took after your mother."

"How…why…" Harry stuttered as he wiped his eyes, not pulling away from his family's warm embrace.

"Death, he brought us back," Lily said, sniffling a bit as she looked a Harry, cupping his face, "Three hours only, but three hours more than we had."

Harry started crying again and Lily went back to hugging him. After a few moments they all moved to the table Death had sat at not so long ago and began talking, it turns out Lily and James had been watching Harry the whole time, and from Lily's seething ("I can't WAIT until Tunie dies!") to James proud chattering, ("and you just-jumped for it! Riding your broom like a surf board, brilliant Harry! brilliant!") Harry was treated to decades worth of familial love within a few hours, they laughed, cried, and ate the treacle tart left for them, the house elf gladly refilling the plate with more food when needed; and James was more than happy to give the elf a few beat up galleons from his pocket.

"-I still can't believe you flew your broom against a horntail, a HORNTAIL Harry!" Lily admonished her son, who grinned as his father began jumping excitedly.

"Oh it was amazing! To think you outflew a DRAGON!" James exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear as lily rolled her eyes, idly playing with her son's messy hair as he laid his head in her lap. "Oh Padfoot wouldn't stop gushing about it when I brought it up with him, simply amazing!"

"It didn't feel amazing at the time," Harry admitted quietly, "I was so scared, it took a few days before I could truly appreciate how thrilling it was."

"Fear is a part of all of us son," James said kindly, "it's what we do in the face of it, that defines us."

A quiet bell chimed and Lily and James looked up in surprise, Death had returned, hands folded over the skull pommel of his cane, "it's time." he told them gently, holding a hand out to James and Lily.

The trio slowly stood up, lily hugged her son and kissed his forehead, "we love you Harry," She said softly, "and we're so, so proud of you."

"Don't do what others expect of you son," James said to Harry, clasping his shoulder, "Do what makes you happy, and live a long and happy life, we love you."

"I love you both…so much." Harry choked on his words a little, and tightly hugged them both once more, before taking a step back and letting his parents walk hand in hand to Death. Who gently touched James on the shoulder.

"Thank you once again, Mr. Potter." Death said genuinely, "may it be a long while before we meet again."

And with that the three faded away, a final "we love you," echoing through the empty kitchen as Harry sat down at the table.

When Hermione found him a few hours later still at that same table eating Shepherd's Pie, she was perplexed; the night before her friend had looked haggard and defeated, but this morning he had a smile on his face. And though the bags under his eyes spoke of a sleepless night; she couldn't help but feel he was feeling the best he had in weeks.

"Are you alright Harry?" Hermione asked as she sat across from him.

"Eat." he urged her, depositing a slice onto a spare plate and handing it over, "i already paid the elves."

Hermione hesitated for a moment, then bit into the pie, humming in delight at the taste, "what happened Harry?" she asked, looking at him, "Ron says you never made it to the dormitory."

"Couldn't sleep," he said simply, "I was thinking."

Hermione waited for him to expand on that, but ended up having to huff and ask, "and what were you thinking about?"

"I was thinking I want to become a teacher." he said conversationally, taking a sip of his drink before smiling at his perplexed friend, "Defense Against the Dark Arts preferably, but I wouldn't say no to Charms."

"Your Charms work was your second best subject." Hermione noted cautiously, "but what brought this up? I thought you wanted to be an Auror?"

"I thought I did." he agreed, tapping the empty goblet on the table before turning it over to show the elf he was done with the drink, "but I was thinking…my parents would want me to do something I love right? And…well I don't love chasing dark wizards."

"You definitely don't like paperwork." Hermione teased, making him laugh, "If you want to be a teacher I'm sure McGonagall would be able to help you with that." she reasoned, giving him a genuine smile, "and we know you're the best teacher for Defense we've ever had."

"I wasn't that good," he said dismissively.

"You're the entire reason we passed our OWL's." she admonished him, "take pride in that!"

Harry grinned as he finished his last slice, standing with a stretch, Hermione following, 'we can probably find McGonagall in her office right about now, the help from the MoM should be here to start the funerals."

"Let's help where we can." Harry said, heading out the portrait, stopping at its threshold, "from here on out, we make the world better. Right Hermione?" he asked.

"Right." she agreed with a warm smile as they left the house elf clearing their plates away with the snap of its fingers.