Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

Hermione Granger strode purposefully down the damp, dark corridors of Azkaban Prison. Flanked by two unspeakables who kept the golems away with a strange circular talisman. The dementors of Azkaban had been replaced by golems shortly after the dementors had abandoned the prison and joined Voldemort. The golems were magical constructs that had similar effects to the dementors. They drew power from the happiness in people and left them with nothing but the worst experiences in their lives. That had happened 6 long years ago close to Harry's 17 birthday after his sixth year at Hogwarts.

Harry had been accused of killing Rubeus Hagrid. Everyone had thought he was guilty. Albus Dumbledore, all of the Hogwarts staff, the Weasley's, the order of the phoenix, all of the students and almost all of the public. Even his best friend Ron turned on him believing him to be guilty and testified against him. However one person had remained loyal to him. That was the person striding down the halls of Azkaban to release Harry. Hermione had never wavered in her loyalty to her best friend. She had cut off relations with all of the traitors that betrayed Harry and once she left Hogwarts, never contacted the again. She had been ridiculed when she tried to convince people of his innocence. Nobody listened and she was shunned.

Harry had been thrown into Azkaban shortly after the dementors had been replaced. He wasn't given a trial and sentenced to life imprisonment and no matter how much he begged and pleaded with the headmaster or anyone else, he was rejected. His pleas fell on deaf ears.

A captured death eater caught a day previous was tried under Veritaserum and when asked of his previous illegal activities, he recited that he had taken a polyjuice potion and imitated Harry and gotten him thrown in Azkaban. After the shocked silence that followed this statement, Harry was announced innocent of all charges and was set to be released immediately. Hermione had been contacted and informed that as he only trusted her, she would be the one there to tell him.

The unspeakables stopped abruptly in front of a cell. One of them stuck the talisman into a hole in the cell bars and it creaked open slowly. Huddled in one corner of the room was a thin and frail looking Harry Potter. As the bars creaked further, he looked up at her, confusion etched on his face.

"Hermione?" He asked, his voice parched dry. "Is that you?".

She smiled widely at her friend who had maintained at least a portion of his sanity although she didn't hope for much more than that.

"Yes it's me Harry. I'm here to get you out of here." She said through tears of joy that were sling unchecked down her cheek.

"How is this possible?" He asked breathlessly.

"They caught a death eater yesterday. He admitted to faking you using polyjuice potion and killing Hagrid. You're a free man again." She said happily, hoping that Harry had enough sanity left to understand what she was saying.

He just stared at her for a moment before leaping up and smiling widely at her. He ran to her and grabbed her around the middle and swung her through the air, an amazing feat for one who looked so weak and fragile. He laughed a deep joyous laugh.

"I've been imagining this for so long." He said as he put her down.

She stared amazedly at her friend.

"Harry how is it that you are still… well… sane." She asked.

Harry just chuckled. 'Still the same Hermione' He thought happily to himself.

"Come on. Let's get out of here. I can tell you everything once we leave. I don't want to spend any more time in here." He said.

She nodded happily realizing that Harry had full mental functions. She held his hand and walked beside him the two unspeakables following closely behind them.

They stepped out of the main gate and Harry quickly looked about and took a deep breath. He hadn't had any fresh air for 6 years and hadn't seen the sun for just as long.

One of the unspeakables reached inside his robes and pulled out an old candy wrapper. They all grabbed onto it and were whisked away to the Ministry of Magic.

When they reappeared, The unspeakables remained standing but Harry and Hermione were sprawled unceremoniously on the floor. They quickly gathered themselves up and followed the unspeakables who were already heading to one of the elevators. Once they were in, one of them took out another strange object and inserted it into a hole in the side of the elevator. A smooth female voice sounded.

"Ministers Office"

The elevator lurched and proceeded downwards. They stopped after a while and stepped outside into a short corridor. At the opposite end, there were two aurors flanking an elegant mahogany door. They nodded as the group approached. Hermione was whispering into his ear.

"Harry, Arthur Weasley became the new minister. I just wanted you to warn you." She said urgently as they approached the door.

A quick flash of rage passed across his face but was just as quickly replaced by a business-like neutrality. Hermione saw this and gave his hand a squeeze. One of the aurors opened the door and indicated that they enter. They did so and found a terrified looking Arthur Weasley sitting behind his desk.

"Harry…" He began but was cut off quickly by Harry who was obviously trying very hard to contain his rage.

"Minister, I am here to take care of business and nothing more. I will require my Gringotts key returned to me as well as my wand. You will release #12 Grimmauld Place to me. After that, you will never again speak to me. Is that understood?" Harry said sharply.

The minister looked downcast and closed his eyes and nodded.

"It'll be taken care of by tomorrow." He said dejectedly.

Harry stood up and left the office without another word, Hermione still holding his hand as they left the ministry together. Since Harry didn't have anywhere to go yet, Hermione invited him back to her apartment in muggle London. They got a cab and left without a second glance at the world that had betrayed him.


	2. Chapter 2

When they got into her apartment, the first thing he did was to take a shower. She gave him some of her dad's clothes that she always kept around in case her parents visited. When he came out, all the grime and dirt was gone and she took a better look at him. His hair was very long now, down to below his shoulders. His face was gaunt from malnutrition. His eyes that were once full of energy and a mischievous twinkle were dull.

Harry tucked in heartily to the bacon and eggs that Hermione had prepared for him when he had been in the shower. They were both sitting on a couch in front of the TV and Harry had a plat on his lap, eating like there was no tomorrow. He halted for a moment and burped loudly which made Hermione giggle. He looked apologetically at her and dug back in. She let him eat in silence and when he was done, she took the plate from him and put it in the kitchen sink.

When she came back, Harry was lying on the couch with his forearm covering his eyes and yet she could see the tears of happiness flowing down his cheeks. She lifted his head up and sat down on the couch. She pulled his head onto her lap and started stroking his hair like she used to do in his sixth year when he had told her of the prophecy and he had broken down. He relaxed instantly and let out a deep breath of contentment. They talked quietly for a while but were both exhausted from the days activities.

She was thinking about all that had happened in the last two days. Harry had been set free and here he was, as sane as anybody. She couldn't get her mind off of it. She noticed his breath getting softer and realized that he had fallen asleep. She let her head fall back and soon was asleep as well.

She awoke several hours later, not quite refreshed. It was dark now and the light of the streetlamps outside her apartment cast an eerie orange glow to everything. She looked around to see what had woken her when she noticed that

Harry was gone and that she was lying on the couch, clutching a pillow. For a desperate moment, she thought it had all been an elaborate dream but let out a sigh of relief when she heard his voice.

"Have a good nap?" He asked softly from the doorway.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and nodded while yawning. She got up and made her way over to him. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the kitchen. She forced him into a chair and went about making tea. She put two steaming mugs of tea on the table and sat tin the seat opposite him.

"You have some explaining to do." She said. He nodded and she continued.

"How is it that you are still sane?" She asked curiously.

He sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. He took a drink and began.

"Do you remember all those times in sixth year when I disappeared for training?" He asked her. She nodded.

"Well, that training was originally supposed to keep Voldemort from getting in my head and finding out about the 'power that he knew not' part of the prophecy. The occlumency went fine and I mastered it by the end of the year. However we still hadn't gotten anywhere with the powers. After I got put in Azkaban, I went mad within a few months. Each day seemed to last for an eternity. All I could see and hear was the vision of my mothers screams as Voldemort killed her."

"It was on my 18th birthday what I was rescued. The powers kicked in by themselves. They pulled me out of madness. Suddenly, I was no longer affected by the dementors. It was as if a veil that had been covering my eyes was lifted. I suddenly knew what I could do. Even now, they are still increasing. If I hadn't been announced innocent, I would have apparated out of there within a few months. I would have had enough raw magical power to bypass the anti-apparition wards. Now, the magic doesn't teach me things I didn't know already. Otherwise I could have just conjured food whenever I was hungry. We hadn't done that before I was imprisoned. Instead, it magnifies my normal power and allows me to do things that normal wizards don't have enough magic for. Such as…" He drifted off.

He held up his hand in front of her and cupped them together. There was a blue glow inside it that seeped out through the cracks where his fingers met. It suddenly stopped and when he opened his hands, there was a softly pulsing ball of blue energy hovering an inch above his hand. She looked at it in amazement and interest. He took his free hand and with a swipe of his finger, a large gash appeared on his forearm.

"HARRY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Hermione shrieked in terror. He smiled warmly at her and brought his other hand down. When the blue ball made contact with the cut, the cut sealed up and disappeared without leaving a scar.

Hermione slumped back in her seat and covered her mouth with her hands while staring at his woundless forearm. He smiled at her again and waved a hand in front of her face. She snapped out of it and her gaze shot up to Harry's face so fast that Harry missed it. She grabbed his arm and ran her fingers over where the cut had just been, trying to convince herself of what she had just seen. Harry chuckled at her.

"I asked Madame Pomfrey to teach me that spell since I kept on getting so many quidditch bruises. Normally you need a wand for it and it only works on bruises and small scrapes but if you put a lot of power into it, you can heal broken bones and such."

She didn't give any sign that she had heard him but just kept running her fingers over his arm, not looking up. He put his hand on top of hers and held it tightly. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Harry you have to stop surprising me like this or I am liable to have a heart attack." She said.

He grinned at her. She yawned and so did he.

"I guess we're still not fully awake. We should get some sleep. It's probably going to be a very long day."

They both got up and Harry made for the living room and Hermione made for her bedroom.

"Harry, we're both adults. We can sleep in the same bed without getting embarrassed. I've known you for 12 years. And besides, I never realized how uncomfortable that couch is until today. My neck is so sore."

Harry looked slightly scared at the prospect.

"And what happens if I accidentally touch something I shouldn't be touching?" He asked her.

She let out an exasperated sigh. "Listen Harry, like I said, I've known you for 12 years now. If you do touch anything accidentally, I'll know that it was just that. An accident. Now come on." She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into her bedroom. She went over to a wardrobe that was placed at the far end of the room and pulled out a long floral nightgown.

"Turn around." She told him. He did so and a minute later, she turned him around again. She got under the large duvet covers and he lay down on top of them. She sighed again.

"Harry, you'll get cold. Now get under here." She ordered imperiously. He grinned at her a little nervously as he did so. She turned off the light on the bedside table and propped herself on her elbow to face Harry.

"I'm really glad you're back Harry." She said softly. He too propped himself up onto his side.

"It's good to be back." HE said. He leant over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before laying back down again. She put her head on his shoulder and an arm across his chest. He was too stunned to say anything and was stiff at first but found that he enjoyed the feeling. He relaxed and kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight" He whispered. She was already half-asleep and only managed a half mumbled goodnight before her breathing steadied and she fell asleep. He too closed his eyes and felt the darkness overtake him.

Ron Weasley lay in bed, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling. He tried desperately to fall asleep to no avail. He couldn't stop thinking about Harry.

'He's innocent.' He thought to himself incredulously. 'He's innocent and I treated him like shit. He'll never forgive me. Not that I deserve to be forgiven. What have I done? What have I done?' The last words echoed through his head repeatedly.

Silent tears of regret slid down his cheeks and he rubbed them away furiously. When he had heard that Harry was being convicted, he had felt a guilty pleasure.

'He always has people fawning over him. It'll be good to bring him down a notch.' He had thought to himself then. His jealousy of Harry being the Boy-Who-Lived broke through and he was blinded by it. Somewhere in the back of his head, a tiny voice was yelling at him and saying that Harry would never kill Hagrid. He had quickly squashed it down and ranted and raved in his mind at how even though he had killed someone, Harry would probably only get a slap on the wrist considering that everyone adored the Boy-Who-Lived.

At his testimony, he had not only told of what he saw at the incident but at how he woke during the night screaming, making him out to be a lunatic. He was uncaring about the hurt look that Harry gave him. He ignored him and went on describing Harry's lunacy. Meanwhile, Harry's face had turned from hurt to terrifyingly cold. Even though he was on trial for murder, he looked supremely unconcerned about it.

After he had been declared guilty, the dementors had come in and swept him away but not before Harry had shot one last glare at Ron who wore a triumphant look on his face.

"What have I done?" He asked himself before returning to staring at the ceiling.


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione dreamt of her sixth year at Hogwarts. The last year in which she Ron and Harry had all been friends. It all flashed before her eyes in an instant and yet it took an eternity. She watched in sadness as Ron talked to her about how he thought Harry was turning to the dark side. She berated him for ever thinking that Harry would turn dark. Ron argued that he had seen Harry practicing some 'dubious' spells in the room of requirements.

"Well what do you expect Ron? He has to defeat Voldemort. Do you think that he is going to accomplish that with a leg-locker curse?" She yelled shrilly at him.

"No. But there must be some other way. The dark arts corrupt people Hermione. I mean look at You-Know-Who." He yelled back.

"If you think for even a second that Harry would turn dark, You are a bigger fool than I thought Ronald Weasley!" She screamed at him.

She watched on as an observer while her past self and Ron's past self argued about Harry. Her past self finally slapped Ron and walked out of the room.

She awoke with a gasp. She remembered the vivid dream. The details had been so exact that is scared her. She thought back to that day of the argument. It had only been a month before Harry had been wrongfully convicted of murdering Hagrid. True, Harry had drawn into himself a loot that year but it was understandable. Sirius had just died and he had found out that he was destined to be the only one able to defeat Voldemort. But no matter how much any one insisted, she had refused to believe that Harry would turn dark. And she had been proven right.

She shivered as her head got colder, she realized that she had been asleep with her head on shoulder and now, the warmth was slowly ebbing away. She took a look at the alarm clock beside the bed and saw that it was only 3 a.m. She put her head back on his shoulder and relished in the warmth that it brought, and quickly fell asleep again.

Harry's eyes snapped open to the sound of tapping. He looked around to see what was making the noise but was stopped when he felt an unfamiliar weight on his chest. He looked to see Hermione who had half-climbed on top of him. He smiled and gently slid out from under her. He stood silent and listened intently to find out where the tapping was coming from. There was a loud hoot and Harry headed to the window. He pulled the curtains aside and at first he was dazzled by the bright sunlight that greeted him. He rapidly blinked a few times to get rid of the spots that were now dancing in front of his eyes to see 5 owls all jostling to get at the window.

He opened the window and they all swooped in. He relieved all of them of their letter and two of them took flight immediately, apparently not expecting a reply. He recognized two of the other owls. One was his own snowy white owl, Hedwig. He had been wondering where she was. She immediately recognized him as well and landed on his shoulder, nuzzling his neck with her soft, feathery head. He chuckled.

"I missed you too Hedwig." He told her.

The other owl was 'Weasley's', as he now referred to him, Pig. He picked the owl up and chucked it out the window. It flew off with a disgruntled hoot. He glared back at the letter and stretched out a hand. The parchment caught fire and disintegrated into ashes. He opened the envelopes from the two owls that had already left. Out of one of them dropped three Gringotts keys.

_Mr. Potter,_

_Please find enclosed your Gringotts key as per the request of Minister Weasley. Your vault has been reactivated and you may proceed with any withdrawals and deposits. You now have access to your family vault and as per the last will of Sirius Black, you now have access to the Black family vault. You are required to be present at Gringotts to personally take control of these vaults by no later than August 15. _

_Head Goblin Grak_

Harry felt a stab of pain at the mention of Sirius' name but he bit it down. He placed the letter down along with the three keys. He wondered briefly about what the Potter family vault was. He had always thought that his own vault was where his parents money had been. Apparently not.

The next letter however, made his blood boil.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_The Ministry of Magic would like to extend to you, an official apology for your wrongful imprisonment. As you may understand, those were, and still are, stressful times at the Ministry and as you know, You-Know-Who and his death eaters are still on the loose. As a result, people suspected of illegal dealings or activities were dealt with severely and harshly to deter others from following the same path. Your trial was an unfortunate series mistakes on our part and we hope that realize that you accept our most sincere apologies. _

_Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, Percy Weasley_

'_How dare he ask me to forgive them!' He thought. '6 years in Azkaban and they ask me to forgive them?' He thought to himself, wondering at the nerve of it all. 'Not happening in this lifetime. Or the next. Or ever for that matter'._

And as if that weren't enough, the next letter made it even worse.

_Dear Harry,_

_I'm so sorr-_

Harry stopped reading the letter entirely right there. Even after Azkaban, he would recognize that elegant, loopy script anywhere. It was the same script that had accompanied his father's invisibility cloak. Albus Fucking Dumbledore. He tossed the letter away vehemently.

Harry's temper by now was reaching exploding point and he tried everything in his power to hold it in. With the levels of raw magical power that his body now held, he would probably raze half of London to the ground if he lost control. A close-fitting yet violent, white aura formed around him. It slowly expanded outwards and Harry could feel himself struggling to keep it in check. With one final effort, he managed to make it dissipate.

He risked a quick look over to Hermione and saw that she was still sleeping soundly. He sighed in relief as he didn't wasn't to scare her out of her wits. The other prisoners had always become visibly terrified whenever the aura appeared and their shrill screams echoed loudly off the walls of the prison.

The aura had begun to pop up more frequently over the years. At first it used to pop up erratically at the most unexpected moment. Now, it appeared whenever he got furious at anything. It became harder each time to force it to dissipate.

With it accompanied a feeling that he couldn't describe. Everything felt simpler. He couldn't feel some of the things that burdened him now and every time, it took more of an effort on his part to force the aura away.

He yawned and as tired as he was, forced himself to go and make some food. In the kitchen, he pondered for a while, wondering what to make. In the end, he couldn't decide so instead, he just chose to make a little bit of everything. Bacon, eggs, toast, pancakes and an assortment of condiments were neatly laid out on the kitchen table. He waved a hand over the table and cast a heating charm on it so that it would stay heated while he went to wake up Hermione. When he walked into the bedroom, he had to stifle a laugh. The covers were on the ground and Hermione was curled up into a ball on the bed. He shook his head in amusement and grinned impishly. He quietly walked to her side of the bed, bent down over her and kissed her cheek.

"Time to wake up Hermione." He whispered. Her eyes opened slowly and she rubbed the heels of her hands into her eyes. When she took them away, she spotted Harry hovering over her with a smile on his face.

"Good morning Sleeping Beauty." He said cheerfully. She moaned a little and tried to roll away from him.

"Leave me alone Harry. It's far too early." She whined.

"Ahh but see if I did that, then you would miss out on the great breakfast that I prepared for us."

"You made breakfast? How long have you been up?" She asked.

"Yes I made breakfast. I've been up for a while. There were a few owls at the window and I let them in. Hedwig was with them but I have no idea how she knew I was here."

"Oh I kept Hedwig with me. Well it wasn't really my choice. Once you were gone, she wouldn't leave my side. Not that I minded of course. She is the smartest owl I have ever seen. That reminds me, I kept your things from your dorm. I couldn't keep your trunk here since I had nowhere to put it so I put it in my Gringotts vault. We can get that for you anytime. You mentioned something about breakfast right? Well let me take a shower and get dressed and then we can eat." She told him.

She was out of the shower quickly and her eyes went wide when she entered the kitchen at the amount of food that Harry had prepared.

"Harry, who is supposed to eat all this?" She asked him.

"Well you see what happened is, I couldn't decide what to make so I just decided to make a little bit of everything. As to who's going to eat it, I need to start looking less like a twig."

"You are a bit on the skinny side." She said fondly as she patted his stomach.

"Well let's get started then. I'm absolutely starved."

Breakfast was a pleasant affair. They discussed their plans for the day as they happily ate all of the food that Harry had prepared with Harry eating considerably more than Hermione who was astounded by the quantities of food that Harry was able to consume at one sitting. Harry found out from Hermione that the date was the 4th of August and they decided to get the Gringotts business out of the way and check out the 2 new vaults that Harry had access to now.

They quickly cleared up the dishes from breakfast and set them in the sink. Hermione got changed and transfigured Harry's clothes into jeans and a shirt. She berated herself for not thinking of it last night.

"I never thought I'd see the day that Hermione Granger became absentminded." He teased her.

"I'm not absentminded Harry. With all the excitement yesterday, I just forgot. There's a difference." She replied good-naturedly.

"Yeah, sure there is. Absolutely." He commented. This only earned him a slap on the arm.

Harry didn't have his apparating license as yet and Hermione had no floo connection since she didn't need it so they decided to take a taxi to Diagon Alley instead. As soon as they entered The Leaky Cauldron, Harry was bombarded by people asking all types of questions (Some that made Harry and Hermione blush quite profusely) and getting people shaking his hand. He silently cursed to himself and dragged Hermione off into a back room. He had her cast a few charms and now, he had short brown hair, brown eyes and his scar was gone. They hoped that it would be enough since Hermione didn't have that much experience altering face structure and didn't want to risk it in case something went wrong and they couldn't reverse it. Fortunately, once they made it onto Diagon Alley, no one recognized them. The first stop was Gringotts. They made it quickly to Gringotts without any hassle. It seemed that the threat of Voldemort was now firmly planted and people feared to travel to busy places like Diagon Alley and instead, did their shopping by mail order.

At Gringotts, they asked for a private room to discuss things. Once inside, Harry asked to speak to the head goblin and showed him the three keys. The goblin went off and a minute later, a different goblin came back.

"Yes Mr. Potter, what can we do for you?" The goblin said harshly as he walked in and sat behind the large table . It seemed that even when they were trying to be polite, goblins were callous sounding.

"I was just wondering if I might be able to incorporate all three vaults into one. It's just a hassle to have 3 different ones." He told the goblin.

"Of course. May I please have your keys?" He asked, still sounding severe.

Harry handed him the keys and the goblin left. He told them to stay until he returned. He was gone for almost twenty minutes before he returned. He handed Harry a golden key that was slightly larger than the others.

"Mr. Potter, the amount of possessions prevent us from using a standard vault so we are having everything moved to one of the larger, more high security vaults. Your new vault is number 9. In addition to your key, you will need to put your hand on the identifying stone so as to verify your magical signature. Do you wish to go down now?" He asked.

"Yes please." Harry replied. Harry and Hermione both got up and were led to a cart. It was longer than the trip Harry took to his own vault. It lasted nearly 10 minutes until they were in a very large cavern. The track for the cart was suspended in mid air and they couldn't see the ground, walls or ceiling. A large roar echoed loudly off of the unseen walls.

"Harry…" Hermione said meekly. She now had a death-grip on his arm.

Harry nodded his head. "I know. Dragons." He said back, knowing full well what she was thinking. They had all heard of the rumors that dragons guarded the high security vault. Harry in particular was reminded of the first task in the Triwizard Tournament where he had, had to get past a dragon.

The goblin that was with them spoke. "Yes indeed there are dragons that guard the high security vaults. 10 of the most vicious Hungarian Horntails. They were brought into these caverns as eggs and have never seen the outside world. They are now too large to ever leave." He commented to them.

Even though the cart was hurtling through the cavern at full speed, it took them 5 more minutes to get out of the cavern. They were once again in the same type of tunnel as before. They came to a screeching halt and the goblin stepped put of the cart first. They followed him and Harry handed him his key. The goblin opened the lock and stepped back.

"Place your hand on the flat stone." He told Harry.

Harry noticed a large flat piece on the door to the vault. He put his hand on it and felt a slight tingling. The large stone door opened and Harry and Hermione's jaws both dropped in astonishment.

They were in a large stone room the size of The Leaky Cauldron. It was at least 50 feet tall. At the back, the galleons, sickles and knuts were all placed in large containers, each one was a 5 foot cube made of some unrecognizable black substance. and filled to the brim. They were stacked side by side along the entire length of the vault and up to the very top. Most of them were filled with galleons. There was also one cube each for galleons, sickles and knuts, on the ground for easy access.

Once Harry and Hermione had picked there jaws up off the floor, they realized that there were other things in the vault besides money. There were several chests lined along one wall as well as bookshelves filled with dusty and old looking books.

"Excuse me?" Harry called out to the goblin. He came in and looked at Harry.

"Do you have any way that we might be able to take a stock of what we have here?" He asked.

"There should be a piece of parchment that lists everything in the vault." He looked around and walked to the wall. Harry and Hermione followed him. Stuck to it was a piece of parchment that was blank.

"To activate it, just ask it what you want to know." The goblin stated and left the vault again.

"How much money is there in this vault?" He asked it.

Stylish writing appeared on the parchment as if an invisible hand were writing across it.

_52,610 Centuries_

_226,845,519,163 Galleons_

_172,639 Sickles_

_4,967 Knuts_

Harry's jaw once again dropped to the ground as did Hermione's. Harry's face was quickly changed to one of confusion.

"Hermione, what's a century in monetary terms?" He asked.

"There are a hundred galleons to a century. There aren't any wizards that use them. Most have never even seen one." She said, still astonished. "Harry! You do realize that this makes you the richest person alive don't you!" She exclaimed more than asked.

Harry could only nod his head in wonder.

"What else is in this vault?" He asked the piece of parchment. The writing disappeared and other writing replaced it.

_3 gem chests_

_2 personal chests belonging to Lily and James Potter_

_1 personal chest belonging to Sirius Black_

_An assorted selection…_

Harry's mind had stopped working at the mention about his mother and father's chests. Maybe they had left him a letter? A thousand thoughts raced through his mind as he stared blankly at the parchment.

"Where are my mother and father's chests?" He asked frantically.

Two streams of red light shot out of the parchment and each one headed towards a chest. When they hit the chest, the chests began to glow a gentle red. Harry rushed over to the closest one and bent down onto his knees.

"Umm… Harry? Do you want me to wait outside?" Hermione asked tentatively.

Harry's head shot up as if he just realized that she was still there. The mask that he kept up at all times came crashing down and his eyes were filled with pain and sorrow. He shook his head.

"No. Don't go. I don't think I can do this alone." He said softly. She nodded and rushed to his side. She bent down beside him and hugged him for a brief moment and let him go but she laid her hand gently on his back.

He took a deep breath and reached out with shaking hands to open the latch. It clacked open and he seemed to hesitate. She noticed and rubbed her hand in small circles on his back. He looked up at her and she smiled at him. He looked back at the trunk and slowly lifted the lid up. The red glow had now disappeared from the chest. Laid on top of everything was a quidditch uniform in Gryffindor colors. He took it out and caressed the material in between his fingers before laying it aside.

He pulled out a large framed picture: it was of his mother, father and him as a baby. James was laying down on the couch with Lily in his arms and Harry in hers. He choked down a sob and looked away.

"I- I can't do this. Not yet. Can we please go?" He asked the last part to Hermione who nodded understandingly. They got up and Hermione cast a shrinking charm and made both trunks feather-light. She grabbed them up and handed them to Harry who put them in his pocket. They left the vault and made their way back up to the main Gringotts building. As they were heading out of Gringotts, there was a large booming sound and then, the screaming began.

Harry and Hermione both quickly rushed out, Harry's tear stricken face was now replaced by one of total concentration. Hermione had her wand out in front of her and Harry's hand was suspended in mid-air, ready to strike at a seconds notice.

People were rushing down Diagon Alley and heading towards Gringotts. Behind the masses, there were death eaters. At least 20 of them and they were all running havoc. Adults apparated away. The few adults with children ran to fireplaces to floo away. There were a few aurors interspersed in all the chaos but they were outnumbered. Almost instantaneously, Harry's hand lurched forward and a dazzling red ball of energy flew towards a group of death eaters. Several of them, dropped to the ground, stunned. The remaining ones all turned to face this new threat. Meanwhile, Hermione had dropped another 2. The death eaters looked momentarily shocked but began firing off curses at an alarming rate. Harry waved his hand and a large blue wall of semi-transparent energy appeared in front of him and Hermione. It blocked all of the regular curses and a few of the unforgivable curses. The ones who noticed this apparated away, not wanting to face someone who could block their favorite, so called, unblockable curse. There were very few left now and they were captured as aurors started arriving. An auror started walking over to Harry and Hermione as the shield had now dropped. Harry whispered into Hermione's ear.

"Hermione, apparate us out of here." He said, sounding urgent.

"Harry I cant do that. I don't have enough power to apparate us both out." She said.

"Reach into mine. Then extend the apparition field over us both." He replied even more urgently.

She was shocked that he knew about apparition fields and the fact that power could be shared. She pushed this to the back of her mind and grabbed his arm. She attempted to draw some of his power from him and nearly fell over with the shock of it. She felt like she was drowning in him. His power levels were well over 10 times that of hers. She quickly guided the power into apparating and with a large crackle of energy, she apparated both of them back to her house, leaving behind one stunned auror.

They both appeared in her living room. Hermione was still shocked at his power reserves and only faintly heard him say "ohhh" before he fell unconscious and dropped to the floor.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry woke up a few hours later with a groan. He looked around and saw himself laying down in Hermione's bed. He tried to get up but as he did so, the room started spinning and he flopped back down. He closed his eyes again in the hopes of blocking out the room which was now swaying wildly. He heard the door creak and opened his eyes. Hermione was standing in the doorway. She looked as if she had been crying a lot. Without warning, she flung herself onto him. He let out a small chuckle and hugged her as she cried into his shoulder.

"I thought you'd gotten hurt." She managed to choke out. He gripped her tighter.

"I'm ok. Really." He added at her skeptical expression. "You just channeled too much power into the apparition and most of it had to go somewhere so it just dissipated into the air. How long have I been out?" He asked her.

"Almost 3 hours now. I was contemplating getting a healer but you were breathing so I decided to wait." She replied to him.

"That's ok then. One of my backups should kick in, in another hour or two." He said this more to himself than to her but she caught on anyway.

"What do you mean backups?" She asked, sounding intrigued and yet annoyed that there was something Harry hadn't told her about yet. She moved off of him and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Well you know how if someone performs too much magic at once, they have to take a break for their magical energies to fill up again?" He asked her. At her nod, he continued. "When I was in Azkaban, after I gained these powers, I tried breaking out a couple of times. I repeatedly pummeled the walls with the fiercest spells I could manage. The walls were too heavily shielded so it didn't work but it let me discover something. After the first 2 hours of constant spells, I was drained." He went on ignoring Hermione's gasp.

Hermione's brain meanwhile, was going into overdrive. 'No one has ever lasted 2 hours on a constant barrage of spells.' She thought to herself.

"Then, a while later, I didn't feel quite so sapped. I managed to cast another hour of spells before I started feeling weary again. I decided to keep doing it until I ran completely out of energy."

Hermione felt a headache coming on. It was too much to handle at once. No one was able to maintain spellcasting for that long and afterwards, they would need at least a few days if not weeks to recover fully from it. But Harry was talking about it all in the space of a few hours.

"So how long did it take for you to run out of energy?" She asked him curiously.

Harry who had been looking at her as he talked now looked away.

"It didn't. After about 2 days, I got too physically tired to continue and went to sleep. I tried it a lot during my time in there and the most I remember getting up to was 22 cycles and I couldn't even stand up anymore. I still don't understand what's happening." By the end of it, Harry's voice was beginning to sound desperate. He looked up at her, eyes searching. He was expecting her to know all the answers like she used to. He was disheartened. Deep down, he knew that she probably wouldn't know but he had always held onto the tiny voice in his head telling him to not give up.

Hermione suddenly looked nervous. "Umm… Harry, maybe you should go see Dumbledore about this." She suggested tentatively. She winced slightly at Harry's reaction. The light in his eyes had gone out completely. When he spoke, his voice came out in a way that she could tell he was barely restraining his anger.

"I will not go see him. He was the one who put me with the Dursley's for all those years. He didn't trust me when I needed him most. No Hermione, I will not go to Dumbledore. Dumbledore can go straight to hell for all I care." He hissed through clenched teeth.

Hermione immediately regretted bringing the topic up. She could see the kind of pain that it brought to him. Harry had trusted Dumbledore for 5 years but after Sirius had died and the prophecy revealed, the two of them had grown distant. Harry didn't see Dumbledore as an all powerful presence anymore but more as any other man who made mistakes. Knowing this however, didn't mean Harry forgave the headmaster. Just as Dumbledore had done to Harry in his 5th year, Harry ignored the headmaster. At that stage, they still talked about things that were vital such as the prophecy, Voldemort and his training. Then Dumbledore had royally screwed up. During one particularly heated conversation between them in February of his 6th year, Dumbledore had mentioned that it was Harry's fault that Sirius had died. Even he realized that he had gone too far and made to apologize but Harry wasn't having it. He gave Dumbledore a death glare and silently left the room. Nobody could find him for days afterwards. Almost a week later, he had showed up again , acting normally except that he wasn't talking to Dumbledore at all no matter what the circumstances. Dumbledore had told Hermione what had transpired and she too had been furious at the old headmaster. No mention of the situation was ever made again.

Hermione quickly wrapped her arms around him and he lowered his head into her shoulder and let his barriers fall down. For the first time since getting thrown into Azkaban, he let himself go and let the full impact hit. The impact of the utmost of betrayals. She held him and gently rocked him as she heard him and felt him heave wracking sobs into her shoulder. She could feel her shoulder getting damp from the amount of tears that Harry was shedding but that was the last thing on her mind.

Images flashed before his eyes as he thought of all the people that had caused him this amount of pain. This pain was much more focused and intense than any cruciatus curse. It felt as if his heart was slowly wrenching itself into a million pieces. Images of almost everyone he had known who had betrayed him. Ron, the Weasleys, Dumbledore, Remus, the whole Order of the Phoenix, the whole school, the whole wizarding world. He mentally watched as they all turned their backs on him and sentenced him to life in Azkaban. He clung desperately onto Hermione, afraid that she too might walk away from him.

Hermione was just about ready to curse everyone into oblivion. 'How dare they do this to him?' She thought furiously as she listened to his sobs which were filled with anguish. She knew that Harry could deal with the rest of the world hating him. He had been there before. But being betrayed by people that he knew was new to him. Hermione knew that Harry would have put his life on the line for any one of them and no matter what he said, she knew that if they were in danger, he would still do so, regardless of their current situation. That was the type of person he was and there was no changing it.

"Promise me it'll be ok." Harry pleaded through his tears. He had his arms clutched tightly around her, holding on for dear life.

"I promise Harry. You'll always have me. I'm not going anywhere." She correctly guessed what it was that he was thinking. She put her head gently on top of his. His sobs eventually stopped and his grip around her loosened slightly. He sat up properly, an arm still around her waist. He briefly hesitated, seemingly thinking something over and then placed a brief kiss on her cheek.

Hermione's mind went reeling. On the one hand, she couldn't help but think that there was something deeper to that kiss. Harry was never one to willingly show even that much affection, a result of his time at the Dursleys. If he was willing to kiss her, even on the cheek, it was probably a sign of a much stronger emotion. The other part of her was yelling at her. Harry had always been more of a brother to her than anything else and the idea that he was interested in her in that way was totally absurd.

Hermione had always been the cautious one and this sudden show of affection from Harry had thrown her totally off balance. She didn't know what to think and that was a first. If he was expecting something and she didn't reciprocate, he might get embarrassed and draw away from her. If he wasn't expecting anything and she did kiss him back, he would get embarrassed anyway and still draw away. As she looked deeper into her own feelings, she had to admit that she really did like him quite a bit. If he didn't feel for her that way and she did kiss him, it would make their relationship awkward. However if he did like her, and she didn't do anything, she would regret it the rest of her life wondering 'What if?' and she would never be able to live with that. All this thinking took place in few seconds in her head. She swiftly made up her mind and kissed him fully on the lips.

Harry froze up. He hadn't been expecting that. Not that he was complaining. It was a very pleasant feeling, having her lips on top of his.

Hermione nearly yelled with anguish as Harry froze up. She had completely screwed everything up. She was just about to pull away and start apologizing profusely but didn't when Harry coiled a hand around her neck and kissed her back, just as deeply. She felt as if she had died and ascended into heaven. She was tingling all over and her heart was throbbing madly, ready to burst out of her chest. The kiss was intoxicating and she felt herself getting dizzy. She threw him back onto the bed, never breaking the kiss. She was half on top of him and half on the bed as their tongues warred with each other.

They both gasped for breath as they separated.

"Wow" was the only word that softly left both of them.

She was now lying fully on top of him, her head resting beside his. He had his arms wrapped around her and the sound of her breathing and the rise and fall of her chest on top of him had him mesmerized. She unwrapped her arms from around his neck and propped herself up onto her elbows, facing him. He had had his eyes closed but opened them once he felt her move. He had the biggest grin on his face that she had ever seen.

"You sure know how to cheer a guy up don't you?" He asked cheekily before he drew her into another deep kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

Albus Dumbledore sat at the head of the rectangular table in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Seated around the table were the Weasleys, professors Mcgonagall and Snape and aurors Tonks, Kingsley and Moody. All of them were talking quietly between themselves.

Joining them were Ron and Ginny. As soon as the two youngest Weasley children had left Hogwarts, they had joined the order, much to the chagrin of their parents. Ron and Ginny were the youngest members of the order but had already proven to be useful. After Harry had been wrongfully convicted and Hermione had believed him to be innocent, Ron and Ginny had taken over the running of the DA. Although the DA weren't members of the order, they had proven invaluable to the order in times of severe trouble. They had fought alongside the order in some of the times that help had been needed. As much as they had hated admitting it back then, Harry had known quite a number of useful spells and strategies. He had trained them very well indeed.

That was the subject of most of the mutterings in the room. Harry Potter. Every single person in the room had betrayed him and no one knew what kind of retribution he would take. All at once, the mutterings stopped as Albus Dumbledore rose heavily from his seat to speak.

"It seems that we have made a very grievous mistake." He told the assembled group. He was about to continue, but was cut off by an irate and tear-stricken Molly Weasley.

"A MISTAKE?" She yelled shrilly. "YOU CALL IT A MISTAKE? ALBUS, THIS IS A FUCKING CATASTROPHE. CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT HE HAS BEEN THROUGH?"

Everyone who was there was gob-smacked by the sight of Molly Weasley cursing.

"Molly…" Her husband said calmly in an attempt to sooth her. Unfortunately, she didn't appreciate this very much.

"No Arthur, don't even try." She began in a lower voice that was just as angry. " Our actions are inexcusable. When I stop to think about the way we treated him-" She had to stop for a moment to gather herself. She had been terrible in her accusations of Harry and as she looked around the table, some of the people that were shifting nervously seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"What had he ever done that led us to doubt him?" She questioned the gathered group.

"He saved Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets and certain death. He saved Arthur from that snake bite. He gave us every reason to trust him and no reason whatsoever to doubt him. But yet, I still did doubt him. When he was accused, Percy came back, telling us that he was right. I was so desperate to have the family whole again that I ignored anything else and accepted Percy back. With that, I convinced myself that Harry was guilty and got everything that he deserved. We all admitted to Percy that he was right about Harry being unstable and he forgave us. I was so happy to have him back that I didn't even question the decision even once."

By the end of it, she had her head in her hands and was unable to speak anymore. The other occupants of the table, aside from Snape were looking mortified as well. They had all been very ultimately sure of Harry's guilt. So sure in fact, that Harry's request for trial under veritaserum was denied. They had decided amongst themselves that it would only have been a waste of time and that they would not bother with it. He had been sent straight to the dementors without a second thought about it.

The headmaster remembered thinking furiously that he had lost another boy to the dark side just as he had lost Tom Riddle all those long years ago. He regretted ever trying to befriend Harry Potter. In him, he saw another Tom Riddle and that fact alone had blinded him to everything else.

Now, he was regretting every decision he had ever made in regards to Harry. Leaving him with the Dursleys, he had only found out after Harry had been imprisoned, that Harry had been treated worse than most house-elves. He regretted not telling him of the prophecy straight from the beginning and even going so far as to use him as his own tool.

Because as much as he didn't want to admit it, that was exactly what he been doing with Harry. He had manipulated the boy and used him for his own purposes. He had told Harry that he cared for him and it was true. He did care for him. But no matter how much he cared for him, it hadn't stopped the headmaster from influencing Harry towards his own ends.

Eventually, Harry had figured this out and their relationship had come to a stop. He remembered that he had been the one who had asked Harry to train himself in some of the more dubious spells but when the time had come, he had not believed that Harry was innocent. He had believed that the dark arts had corrupted him. That was his biggest regret. Not believing in Harry and for not having any trust in the boy who had sacrificed so much for others and had proven extremely loyal to the headmaster.

Harry had not trusted that headmaster with anything after he figured out that Dumbledore was still using him. Now, there would be no convincing Harry. If he dared approach him, he was sure that Harry would not hesitate in cursing him into oblivion. Not that the headmaster blamed him in any way. In his own mind, Dumbledore believed that they all deserved anything and everything that Harry could dish out at them for the way they had treated him.

The only thought that gave him comfort was that Hermione Granger had believed him. She was most likely with him at the moment and he hoped that she might be able to keep him from doing something rash in an attempt at revenge.

"I don't see what the problem is." Snape commented bitterly. Every head turned in his direction, wondering what had caused him to speak so bitterly when he too was at fault. "The boy has made his fair share of mistakes and has been forgiven every time. Yet when we make a mistake, everyone acts as if we must grovel at his feet." His tone was annoyed and the look on his face was one of incredulity. It was only matched by the look of horror and disbelief on the faces of the other order members.

"Severus, are you comparing his mistakes to our own ones?" Dumbledore asked the potions master. His voice carried more than a little anger and a not so subtle warning.

"Let us remember that his mistakes got Black killed, not that I am complaining, and he allowed a death eater to obtain something of his and impersonate him, getting Hagrid killed in the process. It could have been worse. His actions could have killed someone of importance." He sniped at them, making it sound as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world to see. The livid looks on the faces of the members of the order were enough to convey their thoughts about what Snape had said.

"The deaths of Sirius Black and Rubeus Hagrid were no one else's fault but my own. If Harry had been properly informed of what lay in the Department of Mysteries, he would have realized that it was a trap. I never informed him that Tom was capable of sending him false images through their connection. I knew that he could and yet I failed to mention it because I felt that he should not know about it. Also, if I had been able to protect him better, his time at Azkaban could have been prevented entirely. Every year since he first arrived at school, he has found himself in perilous, life-threatening situations." Dumbledore's voice had taken on an air of evident sadness and guilt."

"Well if you ask me, it'll have done him some good. He was always hot-headed, arrogant and has never had any respect for his elders. I hope that he has learned his lesson" Snape said severely.

By now, the looks on everyone's faces had changed from anger and shock to pure, unmasked hatred. This included Dumbledore who only now seemed to realize just how much the professor hated Harry.

'Another item to add to the number things I have done wrong by Harry. I should not have gotten Severus to try to teach him occlumency. His hatred for him prevented it.' He thought

"Severus, you will hold your tongue or you may leave. Harry Potter is not hot-headed, arrogant and has respect for anyone who respects him as you quite obviously do not." He explained quite angrily.

"Should have known everyone would take his side. He is nothing more than an insolent brat just as his father was." Snape muttered coldly.

Unfortunately, by this point Dumbledore had had enough. He tried restraining his anger to no avail. He stood and retrieved his wand quickly from the deep folds in his robes. He pointed it at Snape's head and spoke.

"Legilimens"

Everyone was completely frantic about how the whole incident had gotten so out of control. No one was worried for Snape but feared what might happen if there was fighting within the order. Knowing all this however, they made no attempt to stop Dumbledore.

Snape quickly brought up his mental barriers. No good. Dumbledore tore through them in an instant, not even bothering to spare Snape any unnecessary discomfort. He passed through the images of Snape's and Harry's occlumency training. Snape had made no attempt to teach Harry the proper methods and techniques for clearing his mind. Dumbledore was outraged. For some reason, despite Snape's inadequate teaching, Harry managed to master occlumency. Little did he know that Harry had gotten Hagrid to sign him a permission slip for going into the restricted section and getting a book on occlumency and legilimancy and that Harry was proficient in both.

He quickly exited Snape's mind and gave the potions professor the coldest glare he could. A glare that was usually reserved for Tom and the death eaters. Snape in return didn't even have the decency to look ashamed. He glared defiantly back at Dumbledore.

"How dare you?" He hissed at the headmaster.

"No Severus. The actual question is; how could _you_? You made no attempt to teach Harry occlumency. You attacked his mind, searching for events from his past that you could embarrass him with. You must sooner or later realize that Harry is not James. Now leave."

With that, Snape got up and left Grimmauld place, his cloak billowing behind him.

Dumbledore sat down jadedly and motioned with his hands.

"Let us begin this meeting."


	6. Chapter 6

Harry woke up warmly under the thick covers. His eyes still closed, he threw a hand over to where Hermione was. Or at least where she should have been. His hand hit the bed and he opened his eyes to find that she wasn't there.

He got up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and went into the kitchen to find Hermione who was deeply immersed in a copy of the Daily Prophet. Her head was bent low over the table and she didn't hear him enter. In one hand, she had a steaming mug full of tea and was stroking a purring Crookshanks with the other. On her face, she had a look that Harry was only too familiar with. It was the look that showed she was deep in concentration. He watched her for a moment and the softly cleared his throat.

"Anything interesting in there?" He asked her. Her head snapped up so fast that Harry thought she might have given herself an injury. Just as quickly, her head dropped down again and she stared intently at her mug when she spoke.

"No nothing much." She answered. She folded away the newspaper but before she could put it away, he saw a familiar face on the front page. A young man who had jet black hair and vivid green eyes and a lightning bolt shaped scar. Underneath it was a headline: _Harry Potter, What Is He Hiding?_

His eyes narrowed at Hermione as she made to put the paper away while not showing him the front page.

"So Harry, did you sleep-" she started, trying to sound cheerful, but Harry cut her off quickly.

"Hermione, give me the paper." He said in a voice that brooked no argument from her. She gave him a sympathetic look as she laid the paper out in front of him as he sat down across from her. He saw that the story was continued on page 3 so he turned there immediately.

There was another smaller picture of him there, one from the attack on Diagon Alley. He wondered briefly about who had taken a picture of him when there had been an attack going on but he cast that thought aside. One glance at the bottom of the page showed that it was written by one of Harry's least favorite people.

"Skeeter?" He asked incredulously. "I thought she would have learned her lesson by now."

"She hasn't" Hermione said scathingly. "After I let her out, she started writing horrible stories again. I informed the Department of Magical Law Enforcement about her being an unregistered animagus but she somehow managed to squirm her way out of being punished.

As she was going through the various ways in which she would like to pay Skeeter back for what she had done, Harry read through the article. It posed several exaggerated comments about why Harry had left before the aurors had gotten a statement from him. They accused him of being in league with those that had attacked despite the fact that numerous eyewitnesses claims that Harry had effectively fought off the death-eaters. Rumors were abound that Harry was now in fact allied with Voldemort and that he was in fact responsible for the murder of Rubeus Hagrid. They claimed that he had gotten out of Azkaban not because he was innocent, but because he had bribed and threatened several people in key positions to let him out.

"Oh come on. That doesn't even make any sense. I was locked away. How could I have possibly threatened anyone. The only thing I could have done was to threaten the golems but seeing as they're incapable of speech or hearing or any other form of sensation, that would negate the point." He muttered exasperatedly.

"Don't pay any attention to it Harry. It's just the mindless ramblings of a few idiots. The paper has really gone downhill and I would cancel my subscription if it weren't for the fact that it's good tactics to know what the enemy is saying."

Just as Harry was about to open his mouth and make another scathing comment about the stupidity of the wizarding world in general, the doorbell rang. Biting his tongue, he turned around and headed to the front door. When he opened it, he came face to face with the last person that he wanted to see.

"What are you doing here Weasley?" He uttered dangerously, his voice just barely above a whisper.

"H-H-Harry, I came t-to ap-apologize." Ron stuttered, taking a step back from where he was at seeing the rage in Harry's eyes. He was already so scared shitless that he didn't notice the white aura beginning to form.

"What makes you think that I would ever forgive you? Do you honestly think that you deserve forgiveness? You know what, I once compared us to the marauders the three of us. Hermione was my Remus and you were my Sirius. Now that I come to think of it, you are more like Wormtail. I would have died for you. But you were so jealous that you betrayed your best friend."

"H-Harry please…" Ron began

"Shut up you fool. Don't you get it? I. Hate. You. I never want to see you again for as long as I live. I hope you die an early, painful death. In fact, if you don't get out of my sight in the next 5 seconds, I might be liable to start the process."

The aura had now fully formed to the largest size yet and it was still expanding. Suddenly, it rushed outwards in all directions. For a brief second or two, all anyone could see was white. Even as they shut their eyes, the whiteness filled their screen of vision. In the next moment, it all came rushing back into Harry.

He tossed his head back and took in a deep breath as if it were his first. When he lowered his head and opened his eyes, he was greeted by the humiliating sight of one Ronald Weasley who had just soiled himself. Harry's eyes were glowing all white with no iris or pupils. When he spoke, it was in a deep rumbling voice that echoed loudly off of the walls, making it even more terrifying than it already was.

"Free at last." He said. It was looking in Ron's direction but instead of looking at him, it seemed to look straight through him. Ron ,who seemed to be too terrified to move or do anything else, simply whimpered something unintelligible. Harry or whatever it was noticed him now and locked his gaze onto his.

"You have caused the host much suffering. You will leave now before I decide to rip you limb from limb." With a wave of his hand, Ron vanished with a sound that resembled the shriek of a banshee. Harry turned around to find out that he was on the wrong end of a wand that was being held by Hermione and was pointed straight at his heart.

"Who or what are you?" She asked, making a valiant effort of keeping the fear out of her voice.

Harry's head drooped and rose again, the white glow gone. When he spoke, it was in his regular voice.

"Hermione, its me. Let's go sit down and I'll try to explain it to you as best as I can." He put an arm around a thoroughly shocked witch and led her to the kitchen.

A/N: Can you say irritated?


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: There is some semi-religious banter in this chapter. I hope that I do not offend anyone by posting this and if I do, I apologise and wish to inform you that it was not my intention to do so. I would also like to inform you that I am not a very religious person and I am merely basing this all on things that I have heard from others.

"Ok Harry, what's going on?" Was the first question that came out of Hermione's mouth as she and Harry sat down at the kitchen table. She had the look on her face. The one that said 'you will explain everything and you will do so now'. She had her arms folded across her chest and Harry knew that he wasn't going to be able to worm his way out of this one. He sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

"It's complicated and I don't really know where to begin. I suppose it started with the whole ordeal of getting these new powers. At times when my emotions were running high but especially during times when I was angry or scared, this white aura would appear. I don't know why but for some reason, the other inmates seemed to be terrified of it. I never really understood that. What happened just now was a release. There was a magical presence that chose me for a host but he had to break through. I didn't know what it was so I always suppressed it. This time, the emotions were too much, I couldn't hold it back and it broke through. From what I understand of it, I am now playing host to the spirit of a dead angel that has decided to take up residence inside me." He explained quite calmly without looking at her.

"Wha- What?" Hermione stuttered, so shocked by the turn of events that she couldn't form a full sentence. Harry looked up at her.

"This angel had decided to fuse with me. It's- It's hard to explain. It's sort of like a second subconscious. I think I can remember things that have happened even though I wasn't there but as soon as I try to think about it more, it disappears. There also seems to be some sort of instinctual knowledge of certain things. Eventually, we will become the same being, he will cease to exist and I will probably become an angel in the full sense of the word, having all of their abilities and powers" He said.

"An angel?" Hermione squeaked in a high pitched voice. Harry chuckled at her reaction.

"Yes an angel." He replied.

"An honest to god angel with wings and a halo?" She asked in awe. A wave of concentration passed over Harry's face.

"Yes it would seem that I do have wings. No halo though." He informed her.

"So if angels exist, that would mean that God really does exist right?" She asked excitedly. Being the bibliophile that she was, she of course knew that this was one of the questions that had been speculated upon by both muggles and wizards and she was almost beside herself with glee about finally having the answer. The look of concentration passed over Harry's face again.

"I'm not sure. The angels aren't really what you would think them to be. They are a very magical species of beings but I'm not sure about them being divine. There is some mythology about them being the first beings created by god but there is no proof of it. It would appear that its just like a religion. Its based on belief and not proof. They are very much like us in that regard." He told her.

"Oh. Right then." She said, the disappointment of not being given solid proof one way or the other evident in her voice.

"I think I can pop them out now." Harry said suddenly. Hermione's eyes snapped up to his.

"Pop what out?" She asked.

"The wings." He simply said.

"WHAT!." She yelled but stopped as she saw that Harry wasn't paying her the slightest bit of attention. She watched carefully as Harry closed his eyes. They waited for a moment and it passed in silence other than a slight gurgling sound. A pained look washed over him and seemed to pass for a brief moment before He let out an almighty yell of pain. There was the sound of fabric tearing and Harry's shirt was now in rags on the floor. Harry had collapsed onto the floor and she could see his back. There were two white nubs there, each about the size of a fist. Attached to each were red and white wings that were about 6 feet in length. The wings were made up of feathers were mostly a couple of inches in length although there were a few that were bigger. They rose about a foot above his head and looked that they would be level with his ankles when he stood. She was so transfixed by the sight of them that it took her a few seconds to realize that the redness to the wings was in fact blood. Blood which was now flowing freely down his back.

"Oh my god." She whispered as she saw the copious amounts of blood pooling around him. She bent down to cast a healing charm but Harry grabbed her wrist before she could.

"Don't" He said through clenched teeth.

"But Harry-" She began but she was cut off.

"No. Don't do anything. You have to leave it alone."

"But Harry-" She protested. She could not bear to see the sight of him in pain and bleeding.

"Just watch." Was all he said in reply as he cut her off again.

She waited for a few moments to see if anything would happen but nothing did and the blood continued to pool around him. Just as she was about to speak up, she was interrupted again, this time by the sight of Harry's back spontaneously healing itself around the nubs of the wings. The only proof left that he had been hurt at all was the blood pooled around him and the blood stains on the otherwise pristinely white wings. Even as she watched, the blood slowly seeped away leaving the floor and wings, perfectly clean.

Harry gingerly stood up. Just as she had thought, they were about level with his ankles. His eyebrows were furrowed as if he was thinking hard about something. His wings then furled and unfurled into his back. They then majestically swept back and forth, creating a small gust.

"Um Harry, what are you planning to do about this?" She asked curiously.

"What do you mean?" He asked back.

"I mean, you cant very well go around with wings sticking out of your back. It's not the easiest of things to explain. Not to mention that if they find out that you are fusing with an angel, you will get more publicity than ever before and you hate that. Besides, if you do go outside with those, you'll be mobbed by every female that sees you." She explained in her usual matter-of-fact tone.

"What! Why?" He asked sounding genuinely surprised.

"Oh please Harry. Those wings are gorgeous" She giggled at his face turning red. "They really are. They're so white and look so soft that you could-" She cut herself off as she turned red herself as she realized she was babbling. Harry grinned at her.

"Would you like to feel them?" He asked her. The only reply he got was a quick nod of the head and she was by his side so fast that he missed seeing her move at all. She tenderly brushed a hand over the wing on his right side. Just as she had thought, they were extremely soft to the touch. She grasped a feather between her fingers and tugged gently. Even though it was soft, it was very strong and refused to budge.

"You can pull harder." Harry informed her.

She tugged harder and still the feather stayed in its spot. She stopped and smoothed it back into place when she realized that it was in fact quite a bit stronger than it appeared.

"So back to our little problem," She began, "How are you going to hide them?"

"Not too sure about that. Let me think about it for a second. I'm getting more and more information flooding into my head and its giving me a bit of a headache."

"What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"It's Diallo's subconscious knowledge." He told her.

"What's a Diallo?" She asked completely nonplussed.

"Diallo is the name of the angel."

"Oh ok." She said, not knowing what else to say.

After a brief moment of silence Harry uttered a soft "Ah I see". One moment, the wings were there and the next, they were completely gone and the only thing that was left were the two nubs that were sticking out of the top of his back.

"What was that Harry?" She asked exhaustedly. She was getting tired of constantly asking questions.

They can be made immaterial and invisible so that if anything does come into contact with them, it'll just pass straight through them. I could have retracted them into my back but then every time I pulled them out again, it would cause me the same amount of pain and a lot of blood. I think that this way is better and it also allows me to keep my clothes intact." He said as he held up the tattered remains of the top that he was wearing.

"That's a good thing. Well now that we have that problem solved, we are going outside." She said bossily.

"Where are we going and why?" He asked.

"We are going to Diagon Alley and we are going there because we have been stuck inside this house for too long a time. We need to get you some new clothes seeing as how we can't just constantly keep transfiguring things." She answered.

"But all those people. I don't want-" He began but he was cut off by Hermione.

"Harry, you can't spend the rest of your life inside my house. You'll need to confront them eventually and it might as well be sooner rather than later." She told him.

"I suppose you're right." He said sulkily. It was clear that while he would go along with it, he wasn't happy about it.

"Of course I'm right. I'm always right." She said in the know-it-all tone of voice that he was so accustomed to hearing.

They both got dressed quickly and made their way to the street outside Hermione's apartment. She looked around for a moment before raising her wand hand high into the air. After a minute or two in which neither of them said anything, the Knight Bus appeared. A conductor appeared and began the usual speech that nobody ever listened to. About halfway through, he must have realized that he was talking to 'The Harry Potter' and after that, he could hardly get a word out without stuttering. Harry just rolled his eyes at the man and asked him how much it was to Diagon Alley. The conductor insisted that he didn't have to pay and Harry, who always hated being treated as a celebrity, shoved 2 galleons into the mans hand and climbed up the stairs to the third floor, uncaring about the eyes that were staring at him the whole time.

In fact, he was surprised by the amount of people that were on the Knight Bus. He observed as he climbed that it was nearly full. He would have that with the return of Voldemort, people would be scared to even go outside of their homes and while they did look tense, it was nowhere near the level of panicking paranoia that he expected.

"Hermione, why are there so many people on the bus?" He asked as they took the last two empty seats on the top floor of the bus.

"It is one of the safest modest of transport that there is nowadays. Floo can be intercepted, apparition can be tracked and blocked and brooms can be hijacked. Portkeys are safest but to create them, you need special permission from the ministry and they don't just give it out for day to day use. The Knight Bus now has a special panic button that the driver can push. When he does, aurors, start flooding in here in seconds. But to be honest, the reason why most people are here is because of you."

"What? What do you mean me?" He whispered to her indignantly.

"Harry, you don't know what it was like after you were sent to Azkaban. People had lost all hope and they were all willing to lay down and let Voldemort win. I'm sure that it would have happened soon if you hadn't been freed. I know that you don't realize this and that you probably won't like it, but people see you as an icon and a hero." She put a hand up as Harry made to interrupt her. "No listen, people do see you as their hero. You have faced Voldemort 5 times and you have accomplished what no one else could. In their eyes, you managed to vanquish him when you were a year old when even Dumbledore could not do so. That is a great inspiration to others. No doubt, if you had seen the Knight Bus before your release, it would have been quite empty. I suspect that the same will be true of Diagon Alley."

She said this as the bus was making it's way around England, dropping people off and picking up others. Some who got on, came up to the top floor and paused as they saw Harry. When they realized what they were doing, they quickly looked away and took their seats. By the time that they got to the Leaky Cauldron, Harry was quite tired of it and couldn't wait to get off of the bus. If he had known what he was getting himself into, hw would have probably stayed on the bus and ridden it back to Hermione's place.

When they got off and entered the Leaky Cauldron, all conversations ceased and all heads turned to look at them. Harry felt his temper rising even more and had to keep chanting in his mind 'don't curse them, don't curse them'. It must have shown because soon, everyone was back to their own business and Harry and Hermione made their way in between the tables to the back where they entered Diagon Alley.

He had asked Hermione to cast a notice-me-not charm on him but she had refused, saying that the whole point of being there was so that he could confront the public. People took quick looks at him but just as quickly turned away as they noticed that he was glaring at anyone who so much as noticed him. At the same time, Harry was checking out Diagon Alley in case there was the possibility of another attack by death eaters.

It was a definite change from the Alley that he had visited a few days ago. There had been very few people then and all of them had been trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. Now, it was nearly overflowing with people. There still weren't many children around and everyone did look a bit wary as though they were afraid that an attack might occur at any moment but it was still a change from the near deserted Diagon Alley that he had seen after his release.

He and Hermione decided to skip Gringotts entirely as they had already been there on their last trip ad didn't need to withdraw anymore money. It did however remind him that he still had his parents trunks and that he would have to eventually open it and go through their possessions.

They headed over to Madam Malkin's Robes for all occasions and left after Harry had gotten quite a few sets of new robes. Madam Malkin had attempted to apologise to Harry for what had happened to him but she stopped mid sentence at the cold look that was thrown her way.

Harry meanwhile was beginning to feel a little relief. He was enjoying seeing these people looking so uncomfortable. Of course, none of them were probably directly responsible for him getting sent to Azkaban but it still felt good to get some measure of revenge on those that had turned their backs on him. In fact, he enjoyed it so much, that he decided to get a load of confrontations out of the way that day.

"Hermione, I think we should pay a visit to Grimmauld Place." He said. Even though it was formed as an opinion, the tone of it indicated that it really wasn't a request.

"Harry, the order members are all still there, I don't think-" She said but was cut off.

"Well as long as I am facing people, I might as well face those who are responsible for this whole thing. I want to see them held accountable for what they have done to me. Make no mistake, they will get what they deserve. I'm especially looking forward to giving Dumbledore a piece of my mind although I'm not beyond giving him a taste of my fist either." He said this with such conviction that Hermione could do nothing to dissuade him.

It was only a 20 minute walk from Diagon Alley to the ancient and most noble house of Black. As they approached the gap between number 11 and 13, number 12 popped into existence. Harry unlocked the door and stepped inside. A voice echoed from the other end of the hallway.

"It's about time-" It was Mrs. Weasley. She walked into the hall, carrying a tablecloth, the succulent smell of a roast wafting up to them from the kitchen. As she saw Harry and Hermione both standing there, it was clear that they were not who she was expecting. She dropped the cloth and ran to Harry and pulled him in one of her massive hugs before Harry could react.

"Oh Harry, we're so-" But like so many others before her, she was cut off by the fury directed at her by Harry. He pushed her off of him and she stumbled backwards, grabbing the banister to the stairs to straighten herself up. She looked hurt that Harry would do such a thing. Unfortunately for her, Harry didn't give a shit what she thought of him. In his mind, after they betrayed him, they were nothing but the dregs of society. He had even saved their daughter from certain death and they had the audacity to claim that he was evil? 'Very well, so be it' he thought to himself.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked her as if he were talking to a complete idiot (which she probably was given her actions).

"I- I just thought…"

"Well you obviously didn't think hard enough. If you thought for one second that things were going to go back to the way they were before, you had better think again." He said brutally before pushing past her and heading down into the kitchen where his main target lay. Dumbledore.

There was apparently an imperturbable charm on the door because nobody in the kitchen seemed to have heard a word of the argument that had just happened or the wracking sobs that were now emitting from a wreck of a woman who felt like she had just had her heart torn to shreds.

Deciding on making a dramatic entrance, Harry walked up to the door and blasted it open with a bit of raw magic. The door flew off its hinges, soared across the table and went crashing into the window, sending shards of glass everywhere. A layer of dust was sent into the air and for a moment, there was the moment of people coughing. When the dust had settled a bit and everyone had seen Harry, there was complete silence aside from the sobs that could still be heard coming from Molly Weasley. The people who were looking the worst were Ron, who already knew what Harry could do and Dumbledore, who Harry was bound to be the angriest at. Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Tonks, Kingsley, Moody, Mundungus and all of the Weasleys were present. The only significant person that was missing was Lupin.

"Let's hear it then." Harry said impatiently. He wanted to get this part of it over with. No matter what they said, he knew that he would never forgive them. So he didn't bother exerting too much effort as all of them tried to apologize at once, several of them near to tears, others, well past them. Dumbledore raised a hand and spoke as everyone stopped talking.

"Harry, you have to understand that all the evidence pointed to you." Dumbledore pleaded. Harry, through his newly acquired personal angel, realized that Dumbledore was lacing his words with magic, trying to influence Harry into forgiving them.

'The last hope of a desperate man' Harry thought to himself. 'I wonder what he would do if he was on the receiving end of it?'

"slap Ron" Harry said aloud, Diallo, fusing his words with magic. In just a very short time, he and the angel had become very close, their thoughts intermingling. If the rate of fusion continued at this rate, Harry and Diallo would disappear to form a completely new person.

(A/N - I hope you all get what I mean by that. He will change so much in his personality that he might as well be a new person that has mixtures of both their personalities)

Dumbledore, finding himself unable to resist Harry's command words, drew back his hand and slapped Ron across the face. Hard. After he did so, he looked around in a confused state and realization swept over his face. He paled and slowly shifted his glance towards Harry.

"H-Harry-" He began but couldn't continue. He choked back a sob and had to look away. The congregation couldn't understand what was going on aside from Hermione who looked furious and, surprisingly, McGonagall who was looking disappointedly at Dumbledore. Harry merely watched in cold indifference. The others were shooting each other curious and weary glances, having no idea about the extent of the power now available to Harry. Ron just looked wide-eyed at Dumbledore

'It would be rude to leave them in the dark about it' Harry decided. He let go of the barriers that he had been holding tightly and allowed Diallo to come forth.

At once, Diallo rushed ahead, anxious to make his point and show the puny humans the true combined power of his and Harry's combined powers. His eyes regained their spectacular white glow and the angel had to keep himself from laughing out loud as Ron's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out cold. When he spoke to the assembled group, it came out in the same deep, rumbling voice.

"You dare to try and apologize? You have not an inkling of the sufferings that has been suffered. Maybe you ought to see. I for one can not think of a more suitable punishment." He raised his hand and all of their heads lolled back. They all experienced the pain of Harry having to be in the constant presence of the dementors. The pain of the bruises from his uncles beatings. The pain of having his heart ripped to shreds when none of his friends had defended him. They experienced it all and yet it was nowhere near the level of anguish that Harry had gone through because Diallo believed that a weaker man than Harry would not stand the pure unadulterated brutality of it. He let the effects dissipate and smirked as none of them had been able to stay conscious through the experience. He receded into the background, allowing Harry to take control again. He and Hermione stood up and left without a backwards glance. She couldn't help but cry at the look in the members eyes. Harry wrapped an arm around her and they disapparated away.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry grabbed Hermione by the upper arm and dragged her off down the street until they were a decent distance away from Grimmauld Place. He could tell that she was about to say something so he clamped his hand over her mouth. He bent his head towards her.

"There is someone or something following us." He whispered so quietly that even though his mouth was right beside her ear, she barely heard him. "Don't say anything and don't stop moving until I tell you to."

She noticed that his eyes were glowing softly white but not as much as they had before and there was no change in his voice. What shook her was the fact that he seemed scared. She followed silently as he led the way into a narrow alleyway between two houses. His head was constantly roving around to spot the follower. He would stop once every minute or so to close his eyes. It only lasted a few seconds at most before he would open his eyes, shake his head and continue moving. All the while, she could feel him getting more and more nervous and that, in turn, made her more and more nervous.

They were almost running now and he stopped so suddenly that she ran into his back and fell onto her behind with an 'oomph'. She frantically got up. She was about to talk again when she heard it. It was a cross between laboured breathing and deep growling. Drawing her wand from her pocket, her head whipped around, looking for the source of the noise. Whatever that thing was, it sure wasn't friendly. Unfortunately, she didn't see it even as it pounced on top of her, making her crash to the ground again. In a panic, she made her wand shoot sparks and hit whatever it was that was lying on top of her.

Her spell hit it and for a second, it was outlined in a faint red and she could see its general shape before it once again became invisible. It towered over her and the most noticeable thing about it was the great long horn that erupted from the top of its head. The creature itself was over nine feet in length and the horn must have been, at the very least, a good three feet. Also, it was pointed right at her face ready to impale her. Being as shocked as she was, she wasn't able to think properly, let alone come up with a way to get away. Luckily, for her, Harry, seeing her in trouble, knew exactly what to do. He extended his hand towards the creature and with a deep crackling and loud boom, a streak of blue-white lighting impacted against the creature. It was thrown off her quite violently and crashed against the wall where it flickered twice and became fully visible. It was human shaped but out of proportion. It had great long arms that dragged along the ground as it picked itself up off the ground. The mouth was wider and as it snarled at them, they both saw the 3-inch long fangs protruding from its mouth.

In a sudden movement that was too fast for Hermione to even see, the creature, whatever it was, pounced. It could move astonishingly fast for something that looked so ungainly. Once again, Harry came to her rescue. It was in mid air, headed straight for her when another bolt of lightning hit it. However the lightning did not stop. It kept flowing off Harry and striking the creature, which was now pinned to the wall of the alley by the force of it. Hermione could only watch in awe as Harry kept this up for a full thirty seconds before stopping. He was panting slightly but was otherwise fine. Amazingly, the creature, although it was looking char-grilled, landed on its feet once the assault stopped. It observed them for a second before bending its knees and leaping onto the roof of a 3 story building and escaping from their view. Making sure to have her wand at the ready, Hermione approached Harry to make sure he was okay.

"Harry, are you alright?" She asked worriedly. She had seen the kind of power that Harry had back at Grimmauld Place and if him hitting a creature with what looked like lightning for thirty seconds wasn't enough to bring it down, then she was sure that she never wanted to go up against said creature.

"Yeah I'm fine" He replied, still a little breathless. "Come on, let's get out of here before it decides to change its mind and come back again. I doubt it was travelling alone and even if it was, it won't be for much longer."

"What was that thing? I've never heard of anything like it." She asked Harry after they had apparated out. They had first apparated from the alley to Hogsmeade, then to a quiet corner of Diagon Alley, and finally, to Hermione's house. This, Harry said, was because the thing that had been following them was able to follow the magical signatures left by apparition and could possibly come after them if they didn't take a few detours first.

"I'm not surprised that you haven't heard of them. In fact, I would have been downright shocked if you had. Those are the Hunters. They were created because the angels were looking to create the perfect assassins. They are incredibly resistant to all forms of attack be it muggle or magical. I have seen them survive through the avada kedavra curse and from direct shots from a muggle rifle without batting an eye. One of the only things that can stand up against them are angels. They are almost completely impervious to magic in any form, which is why they are the perfect tools against wizards and other magic users. "

He was pacing around the living room, running his hands through his hair. Hermione didn't fail to notice that he now made no differentiation between himself and Diallo. It most likely meant that they were now fully integrated. Indeed, she saw that his eyes had a soft white glow around them even though she was sure it was Harry talking and not Diallo.

"They were given intelligence so that they would be able to improvise. For a time, they were perfect. Obedient, deadly and damn near invincible. Then, the troubles began. They started to go wild. They stopped obeying orders and became riotous, going on killing rampages. The project was immediately scrapped. All the research was destroyed and all of the remaining ones were hunted down and destroyed. At least that's what we were told. Either they have rebuilt them or they lied to us about destroying them. The one we faced was harder to destroy than it should have been. That would indicate that these are newly created versions. Even with all my new powers it was quite hard to fight against it. I doubt most angels would last very long against it."

He was mostly talking to himself at this point and looking altogether quite frustrated and she was worried that if this went on, it would result in a release of accidental magic. She got up and walked to him. With an arm around his waist, she dragged him back to the sofa and made him sit. She ran a hand lovingly through his hair.

"Harry, what's wrong? I know you're worried about this Hunter thing but there's more to it than that isn't there?" She said. It was more of a statement than a question really. Knowing him for so many years, she knew what his mannerisms were and that included when he tried to keep something from her. He sighed.

"Voldemort has captured Remus Lupin. It happened 4 days ago while he was on a mission. He has been taken to Voldemort's hideout and is most likely being tortured for information at this very moment if he isn't already dead." He said solemnly.

"What?" She said but it came out as a mere whisper. She didn't want to believe it. She was not overly fond of Remus as he had made the same mistake of sacrificing a close one to Azkaban not once but twice. However, no one deserved the torture that you-know-who was capable of. Now that he also had the dementors on his side, it was likely to be doubly worse. "How did you figure this out?" She asked.

"Used Legilimancy on Dumbledore to find out what else he has been hiding from me." He told her.

"Dumbledore knows? Why hasn't he gone to rescue him already?" She gasped, shocked.

"He feels that it's too much of a security risk." Harry spat. "I suppose we shouldn't really be all that surprised really. It's not like it's the first time he has refused to help someone when they really need it." He said bitterly, not looking at her.

"I don't know what to do." He said despondently. "Part of me wants to leave him there and let him get what I feel he deserves. I want each and every single one of them to feel the pain that I went through. The other part of me says that if I do that, I become no better than them, and that, is something that is not acceptable for me to do. When I was being dragged out of that courtroom, one of the first things I did was to promise myself that if I, by some chance, happened to find a way out of Azkaban, I would never become like them. I know what I should do, but what I should do and what I want to do are at the completely opposite end of the scale. How do I decide what to do?" The last was uttered in a state of complete desperation.

"Harry, I've said it many times before and I doubt that this will be the last time I say it. You are heroic to a fault. I know that you would never be able to live with yourself if you didn't at least try to save him. I also know that you are nothing like Dumbledore. You can never resist running off to help any poor soul you might happen to come across. It's one of the things I love about you but it's also one of the things that I hate because you usually get hurt whenever you do. You and I both know what you're going to do. You, being who you are, could never do anything else."

She was wearing a sad smile. She knew she was right but she wished to Merlin that she hadn't been. She wished they could just run off somewhere and never worry about anything ever again but knew that it was not going to happen. She worried constantly that he was going to be hurt or end up dead.

He nodded with his eyes closed and sighed. "Somehow, I knew you were going to say something along those lines. Well I guess I'd better get ready to go." He walked into her bedroom leaving a stunned Hermione behind.

"You're going now?" She yelled after him. "Without a plan or anything?"

"Well… yeah. I'm just going to apparate in, fetch him and apparate out. I'll be back in fifteen minutes." He replied matter-of-factly walking back into the room wearing white robes. They had gold runes all over them and in total; it made him look damn impressive.

"Well you're not going anywhere without me." She said standing. "Now, the faster you get me a pair of those nifty robes, the faster we can apparate to wherever he is and get him out." She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot impatiently.

"I uh… I don't think it's safe for you to come with me." He said timidly, guessing that she would blow up at him.

"I thought we were just going to apparate in and apparate out." She said crossly, daring him to defy her.

"Well there might be death eaters. I don't want to see you get hurt." He said and he cringed before he had even finished talking as he saw how steamed she was at that.

"Listen here Harry. If you think I'm going to hang back, wait for you while you go off, and risk your neck, you have another thing coming. I am just as involved in this as you are. I was there at the death eater attack at Diagon Alley and I can take care of myself."

She found herself suddenly dressed in robes that were identical to Harry's in style. Checking herself out in a mirror, she found that when the hood was over her head, it totally encompassed her head in shadows so deep that you couldn't see into it at all. Harry looked the same except his eyes were glowing an unearthly white from the shadows.

"I'm hoping that if we do run into death eaters, they'll piss themselves." He made his wings become visible and created two slits in the robes to allow them free movement. He turned to her.

"You ready?" He asked her and he sounded eager. 'The death eaters aren't going to know what hit them' she thought happily to herself.

She nodded and Harry grabbed her by the arm. The Riddle House in Little Hangleton loomed over them and even though it was not yet dark, it exuded a feeling of darkness.

Quietly making their way through large gardens of the house, they came to the large front doors. There were no lights or sounds coming from inside the house and Harry wondered if Dumbledore had been mistaken in his thinking that this would be where Remus was. Not bothering to be cautious anymore, he flung both of the doors wide open. They resisted at first but when he put his magic behind the effort, they didn't stand a chance and almost blew off their hinges.

He was greeted by the sight of more than ten death eaters who seemed to be shocked into silence at his abrupt appearance within their lair. Deciding not to waste any time, Harry put up a shield around himself and one around Hermione and then started firing off his own curses at an incredible rate. Unfortunately for the death eaters, these weren't normal curses. Mixing the angel and human allowed him to utilise a type of magic that was different and so the shields that the death eaters had put up didn't work. He shoved his way past their meagre defences and once again, using the same lightning that he had used on the Hunter, he char-grilled half of them. Hermione was still engaged in a duel with one of the death eaters but as soon as they all saw what Harry had done, they made quick to run towards the passage at the other end of the entrance hall. Harry and Hermione made to follow but as soon as the other death eaters passed by, reinforcements arrived. There were now over 50 death eaters arrayed before them, blocking their passage. Harry's more angelic instincts came into play and he suddenly didn't care about whether or not these people lived or died. He sent out a pulse of energy forwards into their midst. The air rippled and the death eaters were knocked off their feet in a very violent fashion. Hitting the walls, some of them broke their necks and their backs while others were lucky enough to be simply unconscious. Several made attempts to get up but they were halted by a now furious half angel, half human, super-being who swiped a hand in their general direction and all but knocked their heads off their necks.

Interrogating the one death eater he had left in a semi-aware state, he headed to the basement where he now knew Remus was being kept. Harry didn't like the look of the various implements sprawled around on the tables. They were caked in blood, as was the floor, and the whole room permeated a smell of rotting flesh, urine and faeces. One side of the nearly 50 foot wide room was lined with cages, the interiors of which contained the corpses of those who had already died and the others who were alive, none of whom seemed to be in a state to put up a struggle.

The worst however, was Remus Lupin who was lying prone on one of the tables, various painful looking devices next to him. There were slash marks across his chest with blood pouring freely out of them. Half of his wounds had been pounded with salt to make it all the more painful. These men didn't use the cruciatus. Not when the sight of such horror and disfigurement was enough to break anyone and everyone around them.

He ran over to Remus's side, Hermione close behind. She was covering her mouth and nose so as to not throw up right there and then. Harry quickly performed all the healing charms that he could without trying anything too difficult. Anything too difficult might cause more harm than good and angelic magic didn't seem to incorporate a lot of healing. It was mostly offensive.

Remus's eyes fluttered open groggily and he hissed in pain from what remained of his wounds as he tried to move.

"Harry?" He asked deliriously. "Oh Harry, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry Harry. Dumbledore had me under a spell. I never meant to betray you. Why do you have wings?" Was all he managed before he was unconscious once more from the pain.

"We can't apparate him out in this condition. It's too likely that he'll get hurt even more and I don't think his body can handle it." Harry said to Hermione who was not able to look at Remus and was instead keeping a watch on the doors for more death eaters.

"Well splint him up and let's get out of here then. I don't wasn't to be here for any longer than we have to be."

With a few medical scans, Harry found that Remus's head, neck and spine were all quite battered. Harry placed a full body bind on him so that he would remain stable. With a quick "mobilicorpus" Harry went for the door.

"Harry, you can't just leave all these other people here." Hermione said, stopping him mid-stride. He turned to face her, his face sombre.

"We can't do anything right now Hermione. They are too injured to be moved and even if we healed them all, they would still have to be moved one by one. We have to get Remus out of here first. Then I'll come back and get them all out. So that no more death eaters can get in, we'll lock the place down, but right now, we have to get going."

Tearing her eyes away from the horrid scene, she left with Harry, knowing that he was right. Once they were out of the basement, Hermione placed a complex locking and sealing ward around the whole basement and together with Harry, they both left the house, happy to not have any more confrontations. The plan was that Hermione would apparate back and Harry would fly with Remus strapped to Harry's front. Harry took off with powerful strokes of his wings and flew into the sun, which was now beginning to set. It was only an hour's flight to get to Hermione's but it seemed that even that was too long as she was pacing around her living room when he got there. She had already called in a healer and they had gotten an area ready for Remus.

After setting him down, Harry nearly collapsed himself. He had spent quite a lot of energy fighting and he didn't seem to be able to reach into his wells of energy as easily as before. Not to mention that it was his first proper test of his wings and that he had had a 180 pound deadweight strapped to him. The muscles on his back that controlled his wings felt as if they were on fire.

"Well you got to him just in time." The healer said as she ran her wand over Remus body. The tip of her wand first blinked a green light and went slowly to murky yellow. "I don't know how long this has been going on but he wouldn't have lasted another day in this condition." She performed a long series of healing spells on him and reaching into a bag that must have been bigger on the inside than on the outside, she left them several batches of potions. "He has to take the blue ones once every 6 hours and the green ones once a day. Make sure that he doesn't leave that bed for at least a week. After that, get him to a healer for a progress check. He won't be doing anything too strenuous for a few months at the very least."

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other, knowing that Remus's werewolf transformations were likely to fall under the category of strenuous. They thanked the healer and were informed that the bill would be owled to them. They drew up chairs and sat around the bed, watching Remus's chest rise and fall.


End file.
