A dull pounding in his head woke him, but he knew something was terribly wrong. Keeping his eyes closed and his breathing even as Snape had taught him to, Harry concentrated on his senses. It was a cold, dank place that smelled of blood and decay; he lay on a stone floor, and was magically bonded. At least three people were close by, their breathing was a harsh, impatient sounding, but to his left, he heard a slight whimper. In a flash, he remembered his last conscious thoughts, and the scene outside the Potions Master’s office, in the dungeons.

Hermione! Harry thought, the panic welling up in him, and it took everything he had to wrestle it down. Bloody hell, Pettigrew needed the passage to get them out of the castle, not to sneak anyone in! Cursing silently, he concentrated on ending the spell that held him, drawing on his magic and pushing it out the medallion. He felt the bond disappear, but was careful not to move, as he heard one of their captures shift position.

“Potter’s still unconscious; we must wake him as our Master will not be happy.”

The voice was vaguely familiar, but the cackling laugh that came afterwards made the hair stand up on the back of his neck: Bellatrix Lestrange!

“Maybe we should play with his little mudblood girlfriend a bit more while we wait, eh? Her screams should help wake him up. Crucio!”

Hermione’s screams ripped the air, and the breath from his lungs. Closing his mind, Harry quickly reinforced the walls and shielded his thoughts. Concentrating, he was able to open his eyes as slits. Three black robed and white masked Death Eaters stood in front of them, their focus on the form to his left. He noted the dark chamber; a single torch flickered on the far wall, and knew they were back in Voldemort’s dungeon chamber. With a wave of his hand, Harry sent Bellatrix flying back. She slammed into a far wall, and the force knocked the other two off their feet.

Scrambling stiffly to his feet, Harry crouched beside his unconscious best friend. He could see that her face was bloodied and bruised her robes torn and dirty. Relieved to her breathing steadily, he quickly cast the simple healing spells they had studied on the witch. He had no idea how long they’d been there, or how long Hermione had endured the torture and beating, but it was done. Pushing back the hair from her face, Harry passed his hand over her; a golden strand of magic flowed from his fingers and enveloped her in a golden shield.

“Little bity baby Potter is awake, uh,” Bellatrix snarled in a mock baby voice, wand in hand as she lurched to her feet, “Crucio!”

Harry gritted his teeth as every nerve ending in his body exploded in pain. Biting his cheek to keep from screaming, he fought against the curse. The golden aura around Hermione flickered as he struggled against the agony to concentrate, his body bowing under the curse. From a detached corner of his mind, Harry ignored the pain and drew on his magical core, with strength of love for his friend; Harry pushed the curse back toward the deranged witch. Visualizing the dark magic, he pushed it back into her wand, which started vibrating wildly and exploded in her hand.

The dark haired witch screamed as the two other black robed figures who had just joined her, fell back, realizing that something was wrong. Throwing up a golden shield around himself, Harry pulled his wand from its holster up his left sleeve, and brought it to bear.

“Expelliamus!”

Two wands flew into his hand as the figures flew backwards, and without a second thought, Harry grabbed them and snapped them in two, throwing them into the darkness. Cold rage arose in him as Harry moved quickly, stunning and binding the three Death Eaters, when all he wanted to do was make them suffer. Taking a deep breath, he pressed a finger to the watch on his wrist, and he knelt down beside Hermione. His eyes continued to scan the dark chamber as he laid his hand on the young witch’s sternum, relieved to feel it slowly rise and fall.

“Well, well, Potter,” a high cold voice sounded behind him, and Harry spun around in a crouch, “you have learned a few new tricksss sssince we last met, no doubt from that traitorousss sssscum Sssnape.”

“And you seem to be an obsessed bastard, Riddle, to keep chasing a poor school boy!” Harry snarled back, his heart pounding as he struggled to fight down his panic. “Shouldn’t you be out raping and torturing poor, helpless muggle children?”

Harry took in the advancing wall of Death Eaters that flanked the tall skeletal figure dressed in black. The blood-red eyes flared in the flat, snake-like face, and he could feel the dark magic radiating off the creature. He stood slowly, facing his nemesis squarely.

“Harry Potter isss growing up, I see,” the cold voice laughed harshly, “but he is ssstill as ssstupid and foolhardy asss ever. Where isss that muggle loving old fool who manipulates you ssso well, Harry? Where is he when you need him?”

Backing away from Hermione’s prone form, Harry moved into a patch of light to draw all the attention back to him.

“Dumbledore? Why would he be here, Tom, when the Prophecy clearly says…” he paused dramatically, “oh, that’s right, you don’t know the rest of what it says, do you?”

With an enraged bellow, Voldemort flicked his long, dark wand at Harry, and screamed a curse. Harry spun away from the purple spell, laughing.

“Expelliamus!”

Harry shot back, but the evil wizard conjured a shimmering silver shield and blocked it easily. Dodging to his right, Harry threw a stunning curse and then a blasting curse in rapid succession trying to keep Voldemort busy. The Death Eaters were joining in now, as he dodged several hexes before one hit the golden field around him causing it to flare, but hold. Harry’s head ached terribly as he continued to move back and forth, to duck hexes and curses.

Concentrating on throwing powerful curses at Voldemort, Harry could feel some of the multiple spells hitting him seep through his weakening defenses. Glancing over, he made sure that the shield was still protecting Hermione, and conjured a golden circle to use as a shield, which he used to deflect the worst of what was thrown at him. The noise reverberated around the stone chamber, and he barely heard the evil wizard taunting him.

“Where isss your Headmassster, Potter? Isss he ssso afraid to come ressscue you? Are you not the Gryffindor Golden Boy?” Voldemort hissed.

Albus Dumbledore isn’t afraid of you, Riddle!” Harry spat at him, winded. “He is the most powerful wizard in the world!”

Throwing two powerful stunners at the snake-faced wizard, Harry dodged until he was back, standing over Hermione’s prone figure. Voldemort blocked the first, but the second one got through, and rocked him back. Harry fired another as Voldemort spun and disappeared. Dropping into a crouch, he fired a wide beam stunner at the Death Eaters attempting to encircle him. Harry wasn’t surprised when he heard a hiss behind him and dove to the left, dodging a bright red spell.

“You are dead, boy! And you will die a ssslow, painful death, just like all your little friendsss will, Potter! Each and every one of them will die horribly, one by one, and it will be all becaussse of you!”

A commotion behind the Death Eaters distracted Harry from making the heated retort on his tongue. His shield was weakening under the onslaught of multiple curses. Palming his wand, he pulled a strand of magic directly from his core, and pushed it through the medallion with all his might.

“Expelliamus!”

Wands went flying, disarming six of the eight Death Eaters, just as Dumbledore and members of the Order hit the group from behind.

“Avada Kedavra!”

Voldemort screamed as he disappeared, and Harry saw it was directed at Hermione. Drawing on his magic to shield them both, Harry dove and covered his friend with his body. He felt the burn of the curse hitting him, shattering his shield, before dropping into oblivion.

“Harry!”

Some one was calling to him, pulling him from the pain filled darkness. Struggling towards the voice, he opened blurry eyes to find his arms locked around Hermione, both lying face down on the cold stone floor. Remus bent over him, a hand squeezing his arm. A second dark figure bent down at his side.

“Potter, let go! Granger needs treatment.”

Harry relaxed his grip, and rolled clumsily toward the two men. His guardian bent down and scooped the young witch into his arms, as Severus Snape tugged Harry gently to his feet, supporting him as his knees buckled. The sound of a muted battle still raged around them, as Albus Dumbledore’s face swam into view, and Harry felt his hand pressed to something solid. A familiar tug behind his navel told Harry he was going home.

Bright daylight blinded him the next time he became aware of his surroundings enough to open his eyes. Groaning, he quickly shut them again, as a gentle hand brushed along his forehead.

“Harry?”

The warm, reassuring voice pulled at him, and Harry squinted up at the twinkling blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore.

“Herm…” his throat was dry and raspy.

“Miss Granger is in the next bed, and will be fine, Harry, thanks to your quick thinking. How do you feel?”

Harry tried to move, and stopped as pain shot through him. “Like I was trampled by a herd of hippogriffs, sir.”

A hand cupped the back of his neck, as the Headmaster put a goblet of water to his lips, and Harry drank thirstily. As he was eased back down, his glasses appeared in front of him from the other side of his bed, and slipping them on, he smiled his thanks as he turned his head to see Professor Snape. He looked back at the older wizard.

“Sir, is Remus okay?”

Dumbledore smiled down at him, a warm hand rested on his shoulder. “Yes, Harry, he is sleeping. I sent him to bed a little while ago; I don’t think he has rested at all since you first disappeared two days ago. He will return shortly, I am sure.”

“What happened, sir?” Harry asked quietly.

The Headmaster took off his spectacles and calmly cleaned them with an edge of his brightly colored scarlet robe; a row of phoenixes flew around the bottom of the sleeves. Harry had to smile as he watched the flamboyant display.

“It seems that you were correct, Harry, and Peter Pettigrew was gaining access to the castle in his Animagus form. We have found a number of items in the dungeons that are suspicious in nature, and put there in the hopes that Professor Snape would pick them up. It seems that a certain Ravenclaw seventh year was also involved, and assisted Pettigrew in attacking you and Miss Granger when you showed up unexpectedly. While we knew you were missing, we had not configured the new protective spells to alert us to when anyone was leaving the castle, just when they entered it. It would appear that Pettigrew had been inside the castle for at least a few days, since the wards were reconfigured last Wednesday night.”

He slid the half-moon spectacles back up on his crooked nose, looking over them at Harry.

“We were trying to locate you, when you signaled with the watch and I was able to Apparate to the chamber. Once I had dismantled the wards, the Order was able to join me and we moved into the chamber to find you. It would seem that you were able to hold Lord Voldemort off and protect Miss Granger from serious injury at the same time.”

The blue eyes twinkled at him merrily; “Well done, my boy, you escaped his clutches again, held your own in a battle with him, and infuriated him all in one shot.”

Harry nodded. He was sore and weary and just wanted to go back to sleep, although something bothered him in the back of his mind.

“How did you find out about Wormtail and the Ravenclaw, sir?”

The bright blue eyes had a dangerous light in them. “Because he was thick enough to come right back to Hogwarts, Harry, and Professor McGonagall was delighted to track him down and catch him. I am afraid that Kingsley Shacklebolt was a bit, ah, over-exuberant in his capture and is personally interrogating him under Veritaserum at the Ministry as we speak.”

“We will be able to clear Sirius’ name?” Harry asked cautiously, his eyes swiveling back and forth between his professors.

“Yes, my boy,” Dumbledore smiled at him, “Madame Bones is already working on that.”

Madame Pomfrey chose that moment to bustle into the curtain enclosed area around him and Hermione’s beds, and began her usual poking and prodding. From what little of her conversation with the two older men he understood, Hermione was going to be fine, the physical abuse had extended only to having been roughly treated, and the hexes had already been reversed. His own condition was about the same, having blocked or fought off the majority of the curses and hexes, it was the drain on his magic that had him feeling so exhausted. Reassured by the brusque manner of the medi-witch, he let himself slip back into sleep in the middle of being lectured on the intelligence of fighting off multiple Death Eaters and Dark Lords.

Both he and Hermione were released from the hospital wing the next day just before lunch, and were happy to spend the afternoon resting in the Gryffindor common room. Ginny and Ron had not left their sides since their release, having been excused from their afternoon class, and the four had spent several pleasant hours just enjoying each others company. By mutual agreement, they had not spoken of what had happened, and Ron seemed determined to protect the bushy haired witch from any unpleasantness. They made their way down to dinner, the Great Hall seemingly subdued by the recent events, came alive with cheers and noise when they walked in.

Returning to classes the next day, Harry diligently studied the coursework presented to him, and the days fell back into a more regular pattern. His extra defense classes refocused on protective shield and charms, as Professor Snape and Hermione continued to wade through ancient text books for a spell that would separate what constituted a soul for Voldemort from his corporeal body, so that he could never again resurrect himself. The Headmaster taught Harry how to create a shield like the silver one Voldemort had conjured, one that was infinitely stronger then the small one Harry had managed to produce during the fight with the Death Eaters.

Professor Snape had moved beyond Occlumency and had started teaching Harry the basic magical theory behind Legilimency. Harry wasn’t sure he like the idea of reading anyone else’s mind, but understood the benefits of being able to tell whether the person he was talking to was lying to him. The Potions Master was surprised by his rapid progress in the training, and somewhat taken back by the amount of power Harry was capable of. It disturbed Harry to think he had the ability to rip into someone’s unwilling mind, and asked the older wizard to help him refine his control.

Things seemed eerily normal at Hogwarts as they moved into June and the term drew to a close. Sirius’ name was quietly cleared, with a small article on the third page of a morning Daily Prophet being the only acknowledgement. Ginny studied hard for her OWLs, and Harry kept her company well into the night studying the last weekend before the exams started. Voldemort on the other hand, had resumed his deadly activities of attacking small wizarding villages and targeting muggleborns and mixed blood families. The entire school began to dread the arrival of owl post each morning when news would arrive of someone’s family or suffering a loss due to the rampaging.

The sixth and seventh year students of the advanced Transfigurations class took the Animagus Potion, and were astounded as they were able to envision themselves in their animal forms. Hermione was a sleek tabby cat, and Ron a large red fox, but Harry was in turn astounded and delighted to find himself powerful panther, lean, black with green eyes and a tuff of white hair in the form of a lightening bolt above his right eye. There were only two in the class that did not see an animal form, and Professor McGonagall cautioned them, reminding those who had seen their form that only about half would be successful in learning the complex transformation. With only a couple weeks of the term left, the older woman gave them the name of a textbook that the sixth years could study during the summer, and urged the seventh years to look into furthering their knowledge on their own.

Harry was very apprehensive about the coming school holidays, and had several conversations with Remus Lupin over where he would spend it. He had an uneasy feeling about returning to Privet Drive, no matter how short a period of time. The Headmaster was adamant about it however, telling Harry that he needed the protection of his mother’s blood, but promised him that he would not be there long. At the crestfallen look on his face, even Professor Snape had patted him on the shoulder in sympathy.

The train ride to Kings Cross Station was very tense for Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione, for whom the attack on the Hogwarts Express in January was very fresh in their minds. Scanning the skies for black clouds of Dementors, they kept their wands in hand. Remus Lupin, along with Professors Snape, McGonagall, and Moody rode the train with them, patrolling the corridors, keeping an eye on students as well as the passing countryside. It was rather anticlimactic that the journey passed without incident, the bright blue skies cloudless and Dementorless.

Sliding into the peaceful station, the students unloaded in their usually noisy fashion, chattering excitedly. Harry gathered his truck and Hedwig’s cage, the feeling of dread welling up in him. As he stepped on to the platform, he saw that he was flanked not only by his friends, but his guardian and all the professors who rode the train. Mister and Missus Weasley hurried over to greet the teenagers. Harry leaned into her hug, letting it go on for a long moment, before turning to press a hard kiss on Ginny’s lips, as he gripped her hand tightly. After hugging Hermione and Ron, he turned around to see the large form of his uncle waiting impatiently near the curb.

“We’ll write you, mate, and let you know what’s happening, alright?” Ron said anxiously as he eyed the red-faced muggle.

“Yes, and I’ll see you really soon, okay?” Harry told them with a smile plastered on his face.

“Really soon, Harry,” Hermione’s soft brown eyes were bright.

Ginny threw her arms around him and kissed him again, before stepping back, tears sliding silently down her face. Harry squared his shoulders and bent to pick-up his trunk. As he stood, a hand took Hedwig’s cage from him and another took the handle of his trunk. Turning his head, he saw that his guardian stood on one side of him, and Professor Snape on his other, wearing his best Death Eater scowl. With a smile, Harry walked towards Uncle Vernon, who took a step back as they approached.

“Dursley,” the Potions Master snarled as he pushed the snowy white owl and her cage into his arms, “You will practice, Harry, and we will see you presently.”

“Harry,” Remus smiled down at him, and gave him a hug before handing him the trunk handle, “take care of yourself and you will be with us in next to no time.”

“Yes, sir, I will. Good bye Professor, good bye Remus, be careful at the full moon.”

“Full moon?” Vernon Dursley asked, piggy eyes darting between the two.

“Remus is a werewolf, Uncle Vernon,” Harry told him in a stage whisper, as the purple face turned a pale gray.

Harry walked away with a grin, warmth momentarily alleviating the cold feeling of dread, and followed his dazed uncle towards the car park.