There was a Muggle saying he heard once, when he was visiting Paris with his mother -  two things are certain in life: taxes and death. And while he had no clue what taxes were, he had a pretty good grasp on death and everything that could be associated with it. He was practically raised with death, or even  by  death one could say. After all, his father has been called a  Grim Reaper  for a reason, even within the circle of his closest friends.