Prologue: Death

Harry was a hundred and fifty-seven years old when he died. Which was quite a decent age for a wizard of his power to live to. Unfortunately he died alone despite everything he'd done to avoid such a fate. Looking back he could easily admit that no he had never truly loved his wife Ginny. He admittedly only married her because he loved the idea of her and what she brought to the table. She was one of seven children which meant that he should have had a large family surrounding him.

That was never to be. Bill had Victoire with Fleur and she had married his godson Teddy which did not expand the family he'd have since they were already his. Add in that they only had one child and that was that. Charlie and Percy were married to their work and had no room for family. George was a broken man without Fred and he'd died alone from grief at the young age of forty-two. Ron and Hermione had had two children which was nice and then he and Ginny had the most at three, but it wasn't enough.

While Harry loved his children none of them were capable of giving him what he truly wanted either. His oldest James had become a curse breaker like Bill. Unfortunately his oldest didn't inherit his father's luck and combined with his cavalier attitude they'd had to bury one child far too early. His youngest had fallen for the Malfoy heir, Scorpious and neither had wanted to adopt children that by wizard law would never see a single knut of their families money or access to its standing despite promises from both Draco and Harry otherwise.

Lily, his daughter, was the only one to give birth to a child, but it was a struggle. She had not inherited the Prewitt family fertility. Though Harry cared for them all that came to be anyways. Though it was still never enough for him. He was an old man and the thing he'd craved for most he'd only been given glimpses of as it hung forever out of reach. Ultimately Harry felt like he had died alone. He'd outlived though he was closest to and in the end it was only his great great grandson from Lily and the boy's mother that was at his side as he closed his tired eyes and greeted death.

When he opened them again he was back in the bleached out train station, a place he'd not seen in a hundred and forty years. This time though there was no deformed piece of Riddle, nor Dumbledore to greet him. There wasn't even a train in sight for him to board. So instead he sat on the singular lonely bench in the entire station. Harry had no clue how long he sat and waited before finally he'd heard a voice.

"Greetings my master," the voice rasped, causing Harry to turn to identify the speaker. Only to see a being garbed in a larger all too familiar cloak that obscured its features.

"Death," Harry greeted simply. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?"

"You are my master, of course I came for you personally."

"I see," Harry hummed mostly to himself before stating, "I am ready to move on now."

"Ah, but that's the thing my master, you are indeed not ready to move on." The being known as death countered. "If anything you are weeping inside for not only the life lost to you but more importantly your own dreams."

"That may be true but there's nothing I can do about it."

"Nothing that you may do, but there is plenty that I may do, assuming of course you accept."

"Accept what exactly?" Harry asked, interested.

"To fully be my master of course," Death replied, seeming almost happy at the idea. That is happy for a being that seemingly showed no emotion.

"And that would entail?" Harry trailed off knowing that Death would know what he was fully asking.

"If you become my master I can send you on to a new life. One you can reach for and live out your deepest desires and dreams. However, you will never see those you loved in this life again or any other that follows. You will forever be cast to the cycle of life and then death."

One would think this decision would be harder for Harry. Never seeing his loved ones again, including the parents he never got to meet who gave everything for him. But that was the thing wasn't it? They gave everything for him to live, and didn't Lupin once tell him that death was a poor way to repay them? And so the decision was made and the die was cast.

"I accept."

"Good," Was all Harry heard before he was whisked away in the void once more.

Death now had things to do and plan. He had the perfect place for his little master. A master both old by his peoples standards yet oh so young in the grand scheme of things. Yes Death would do this right, but first he needed to make a few changes. So it was, Death disappeared to start whispers and make nudges for the necessary changes more suitable for his master to take place.

A/N: Mm Prologue of an idea that just wouldn't leave me alone. As a warning Harry will be a bit OOC in his next life. There's multiple reasons for this. First he's going to be in a new body. A body that's going to be hardwired completely differently from his previous one. As a result certain behaviors and actions will happen that may seem out of character. On that note I'll also try to keep the behavior consistent. Second Harry will seem darker when it comes to certain things. His connection to death is part of the cause. That combined with a long life in a dangerous career path. I hope it all makes sense.