Death is but the Next Great Adventure

Magic and festivity hung in the air like electricity before a storm on that cold hallowed night. Frigid puddles interspersed over a slick deserted black road and a wind that howled a mournful cry at the moon curled up into the air. Tucked into the warm and quiet house, a child slept soundly, ignorant of the harsh and dangerous world outside of his four walls.

With a thunderous boom the home was invaded by a serpent.

The toddler startled awake at the initial sound of the front door being blown into the house and he wiggled and stumbled up to look over the bars of his crib as the storm rolled into his home.

Footsteps pounded and echoed through the house like destructive hail battering every available surface.

The door to the innocent and encasing nursery was flung open as the frantic mother rushed to protect the lovely, wide-eyed, and rosy-cheeked child she had held protectively inside the walls of her own body for nine months.

For a moment, her gaze froze on the watery bright green eyes and puckered pouting lips of her precious, sweet boy and she feared that on some basic level he could understand that something was wrong. So very wrong. Pressing a trembling kiss to his head, the women turned around to offer anything to spare her precious boy. She knew that James was already gone from the gut-wrenching flash of green light, but she would give anything to save her son.

The serpent glided into the nursery on dirty, mud-slicked bare feet and leveled a bone white wand at the redhead's chest. The tear-streaked face crumpled at the sight of the wand and pleas filled the room as thunder and rain permeated the house that was no longer a home.

"­Please! Not- . . . not my Harry! T-take me instead! He's-he-he's just a baby! Please!!" She begged the expressionless creature, calling out desperately with all of the magic left in her to 'help him!'

"Step aside Mrs. Evans . . . I am here for the boy . . . I will spare your life if you step aside." The hissing, emotionless words yanked a desperate sob from the mother and she continued her pleading. When her voice raised to a hysteric scream to not kill her baby, the woman's voice was cut off by a sudden flash of green light that painted the room in the sickly pale green glow.

The confused and fussy infant began to cry louder as the snake drew closer and blazing red eyes met vivid green right before the final curse was released and both were cast from their bodies into the cold embrace of death.

Poor, beautiful Lily's cries had not prevented her child from perishing, but they had granted an inkling of revenge that had flung the predator's soul from his body.

She was heard, though.

Death had heard her pleas and watched curiously as the scene unfolded. Death curled his large skeletal hands around the shining beacon that was the child's soul. Death was not omnipotent, but he could see that a soul so big and bright would have made a large impact on the human world. Caressing the burning little sun in his cold brittle palm, Death turned it over in his grip as he pulled it close to his chest and saw the faint, flickering blue sliver that had lodged there. Curious. . .

Death knew quite a lot about the wizard named Tom Marvolo Riddle. Such a large and bright soul. Once Tom had cheated Death by the sly magic human's call a Horcrux, Death could barely keep his curious eyes off of the rising wizard. After millenniums of stories being cut far too short to be entertaining, Death had grown bored and restless. Death's first dabbling in the mortal world ended badly with three dead brothers and three very powerful objects that should not have been brought into the living world for just any wizard to use unregulated. When Tom came along, things were interesting at first, but eventually he grew tired of all of Tom's easily cut down enemies as well.