Chapter 1 - "Knowledge is Power."

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

When the war finally ended, Harry did what everyone expected of him to do. He became an Auror after getting his NEWTs. He even started up a relationship again with Ginny, though it didn't last long. Maybe a few months before they split up again. They were both just too busy that they couldn't even conceive of having a relationship at that time. It was something they thought about maybe revisiting later.

Later never came for them, however.

Harry was a senior Auror when it happened. He had never thought anything of the title 'Master of Death', especially after he snapped the wand and put it back in Dumbledore's tomb. Then That Day happened and his whole life changed.

After waking up again, Ron informed him that somehow, even after he had been hit by yet another killing curse that he still had a heartbeat. He was still alive after dying AGAIN.

This happened 3 more times before Harry learned he needed to dodge better.

Oh, and maybe do some research on it? That may have been a good idea too.

But... Nothing bad was going on, so why should he bother?

Another few years passed and he saw his friends getting their first white and grey hairs and he wasn't. But maybe he just had good genes?

He didn't start up another relationship though, just in case.

Harry was promoted to Head Auror. His friends had 'laugh lines'. He still looked "20-ish"—mostly because he'd grown a beard.

More time passed. Ginny married. Teddy graduated. Ron and Hermione's kid, Rose, started at Hogwarts.

"I'unno mate, I think you should ask someone about this," Ron said, scratching at a beard that was starting to turn white on the edges, "Teddy is starting to look the same age as you."

And wasn't that a scary thought?

So Harry did, going to the one place he could think of.

The Department of Mysteries.

They had approached him after the third time he had died and not stayed dead, but Harry had brushed them off. Now, however, it seemed like a good idea.

... ... ... .. ... ... .. ... ...

"I won't be a test subject," was the first thing that Harry said when an Unspeakable greeted him in the Ministry atrium.

"Hello to you too, Mr Potter, I am well, thank you for asking. I am called Pebble. I am aware it's a terrible name-if you will follow me?" The Unspeakable, someone of indeterminate gender, gestured towards the elevators for Harry to follow. He felt properly chastised by their words, despite the flat tone, and ducked his head, feeling sheepish.

"Sorry," he muttered, shuffling along behind the Unspeakable.

They got them an elevator alone. "It's all right," they stated, "I can understand your feelings. You won't be a test subject. At least, not in the way you are thinking."

Harry wasn't sure if that made him feel better or not.

"Since you agreed, my team and I have been researching what we can. Do you have all of the artifacts on you?"

Despite Harry not being able to see the Unspeakable's face because of their robes he could tell that they were smiling and trying to make Harry feel comfortable. It wasn't really working. He was just too nervous.

"I do, but I'm not giving them to you," he tried to say, but the Unspeakable interrupted.

"We just want to run some te… trials-"

"And you can't break 'em."

"We would never!" The Unspeakable sounded scandalized at the mere thought of destroying such priceless artifacts.

Harry felt somewhat mollified and moved to withdraw the Elder wand that had returned to him the first time he died, again, but Pebble gestured for him to wait.

The rest of the ride was in silence until they reached the Department of Mysteries.

... ... ... .. ... ... .. ... ...

They hadn't lied. Harry didn't wind up being a test subject, at least not in the way that he was thinking. The Unspeakables did run some tests on him, asked him to do some things. He had to hold two weird looking rods while in just his briefs and cough which felt extremely weird.

(Harry told them afterward he was never going to do something like that again and they agreed that it wouldn't be necessary).

Something of interest was the way The Veil reacted to Harry, but the Unspeakables on Harry's 'case' deemed it a 'later' issue.

Things almost came to a screeching halt, one day, when Harry was greeted to the Department of Mysteries by a sword straight through the gut.

He'd been shocked, surprised, and worried. So far all of his deaths had been related to the Killing Curse. They wanted to know if physical death counted too. Knowing Harry would never agree to the testing, they decided to surprise him with it.

He didn't die, at least.

However, Harry was so angry he almost destroyed the department with a backlash of angry magic. A little surprising for someone in their mid-30s, accidental magic, but when his body was physically just barely past 20…

Harry didn't return for nearly two years, though corresponded with Pebble when they had questions he was willing to answer.

Until today.

... ... ... .. ... ... .. ... ...

"What do you mean, 'something only I can do'?" queried Harry as he followed Pebble once again from the atrium of the ministry.

"Exactly that, Mr Potter," came the same androgynous reply. "I will explain more once we reach the offices."

Knowing the drill, Harry remained silent the rest of the way.

Once they reached the aforementioned offices though, Harry couldn't hold back an incredulous, "A computer?"

To be fair, said computer was in a heavily warded box the likes of which Harry assumed would have been used on something much more innocuous than a computer. Maybe one of the Horcruxes would have benefited from that box.

"This isn't just any computer, Mr Potter. This computer has been heavily spelled and cursed. Four Unspeakables have been lost to it already."

This response brought Harry up short, turning to look at Pebble before turning back to the computer.

"Okay, fair," he finally agreed, putting the wand back he hadn't even realized he'd drawn at Pebble's harsh tone. Well as harsh as Pebble could get anyway. "Wait…" Pebble's sentence finally registered, "Lost?"

"Yes."

"Are they dead?"

"We're not sure."

Harry didn't know how to respond to that.

"We have monitoring crystals," Pebble continued regardless, motioning to where there were, indeed, several crystals, "But they stopped responding soon after our people … went to the other world."

And wasn't that just a head scratcher?

"Ex-excuse, did you say 'other world'?"

"I did, Mr Potter."

Once more, Harry was speechless. Pebble continued.

"As far as we can tell, that computer is acting like a dimensional gateway between our world and another. We are calling this other world Azeroth."

"Why that?" Harry couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Because all we can see on the screen of the computer is the loading page for a computer game known as World of Warcraft. Our research shows that the 'World' in question is called Azeroth."

Harry nodded very slowly, looking between the now much scarier computer and then Unspeakable in front of him. "Right…" he dragged the word out, speaking is slowly and softly. "Okay," he added, still nodding as he looked between the computer and Pebble.

Finally, he ventured, "What does that have to do with me?"

"We want you to touch it." Pebble was completely blunt as if talking about what could be Harry's death was the same as talking about what one had for dinner the night before (delicious ramen, in Pebble's case).

"What!" Harry squawked, actually jumping back from the Unspeakable as if they would force him to do it right at that moment.

"Do I really need to repeat myself, Mr Potter?" Even though Pebble's tone of voice had barely changed throughout their entire conversation (and any conversations Harry had ever had with the Unspeakable) he could tell that they were annoyed with him.

"I-, no. I mean." Harry paused, cleared his throat and stopped his floundering about for words. English was hard some days. "What I meant to say was, 'Why do you want me to touch it?'"

"Ah," Pebble nodded, "Because we believe that you, Mr Potter, Master of Death, will be able to survive whatever is on the other side of this Gateway."

… … …

AN: I decided I go the British route and not add a period to my titles, because I can and why the fuck not. My Grammarly, which is set to American English, didn't like it lol.