He began to take the battle seriously, and this was when the onlookers began to have hope of victory. Once he had set his determination, nothing would stop him.

-from The Second Great War by Quentin Trimble and Bathilda Bagshot

Harry paced in his bedroom, spinning his wand over his fingers, and ignoring the minor pain in his leg. Tripping and falling when he had jumped out of bed to receive an owl from Snape had strained a muscle. It still stabbed pain through him when he misplaced his foot.

Hedwig gave a quiet hoot and he turned to look out the window. Almost a dozen post owls were flying towards him. He flung the window open a second before they reached it, and a long line of them settled onto the edge of the bed. Hedwig made her disapproval of the event vocal until Harry had taken all the letters and packages and sent the birds on their way.

The first letter was marked from Snape, and came with a large box.

This is a set of books that will be useful. Read them well, and write when you become confused. I will expect an owl response for why you wanted them.

Work on your Essay for my class.

Severus Snape

Harry laughed again at his teacher’s obsession with the doing of homework. Aside from Hermionie, none of the students had begun to work yet. He opened the box and found five volumes with Latin titles embossed in silver over the ancient leather. “Well, this is an unusual feeling. I’m going to be thanking Snape. Odd.”

The next letter had a Ministry stamp on it. For a second he thought it was a death notice, and that he had lost someone, but the parchment was innocent and plain white.

Owl Results.

Mr. Harry Potter,

At the end of your fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you took the OWL examinations. Enclosed are your results.

Charms Written: E

Charms Practical: O

Charms: O

Transfiguration Written: E

Transfiguration Practical: O

Transfiguration: O

Herbology Written: O

Herbology Practical: E

Herbology: E

Defense Against the Dark Arts Written: O

Defense Against the Dark Arts Practical: O

Defense Against the Dark Arts: O

Potions Written: E

Potions Practical: O

Potions: O

Care of Magical Creatures Written: O

Care of Magical Creatures Practical: O

Care of Magical Creatures: O

Astronomy Written: O

Astronomy Practical: A

Astronomy: E

Divination: P

History of Magic: Incomplete

Total Owls: 5

Please note that the History of Magic examination will be retaken on the 3rd of September.

Professor H. L. Lewhinn

Harry stopped breathing for several seconds while staring at the paper in front of him. He had enough, he could become an auror. He could be like his dad, like Sirius, and he would be able to train properly. He had even gotten Outstanding in Potions. Harry paused.

Snape was going to kill him.

There was a small letter with the names of deceased Death Eaters. One. Some unknown man by the name of Ferdinand Velaquez.

The letter from the Ministry with the death count was far from encouraging though.

Aaron Rickman & Sarah Jordan – Muggle and Muggle born Witch, killed by unknown death eater, Washington DC, America, Monday

Lissandra Foss – Pureblood Unspeakable, Avada Kedarva, St Petersburg, Russia, Monday

Keizo, Ryutaro, and Obuchi Moynay– Muggles, backlash, Nagoya Japan, Tuesday

Ponciano Arriaga, Joseph Cartwright, James Watt, George Stephenson, Richard Twittlemore, Nicole van Norden, Elisabeth Mazzenta, Marcello Berntinnetti, Phillipa Arnesto, August Bebel, Kelli Miffinpugg, Megan Aurelian, Simone Bolivar, and Ibn Mansura – Wizards, Dark magical explosion, Southwest Belgium, Wednesday

Thisbe Lonsalthan – Witch, Poison, Berlin, Wednesday

Casey Firelighter – Wizard, Avada Kedarva, Casablanca, Morrocco, Thursday

Andromache Saindon, Formosa Tulucture, Inojean Greyhame, Etheena Warbuckler – Witches, insane from torture, recovered in Salem, America, Friday

He sighed, and placed the note into the growing folder. Twenty-five. The numbers were outrageous, especially is such large groups. He found a brief, scrawled message from Hagrid, stating merely that he was fine. A fretful and vague update from the Weasley clan head, along with three pies, found in a large box, cheered him slightly. Hermionie’s was on a small piece of paper, and upon seeing the shaken handwriting, he read on tentatively.

Harry-

I’m very sorry it took so long to respond, but I’ve been moving a lot. I’m fine, just tired. Recently I was in Romania, I got to see Charlie, Ron and Ginny. They all say hello.

The book that you wanted is called In the End of All Things, by Nigel Waikowski. It may be difficult to find, but there are still copies around. Until I can write again,

Hermionie

There was a letter he did not recognize, and he held it at arm’s length, opening slowly, until he realized that magic could kill him no matter what.

Mr. Harry Potter-

You are an fool, and worse than that, you are an unnesscesary fool. You-know-who is not bak. He is dead. Dead. DEAD dew you here me? Now, stop playing with the minds of the people of the –

He threw the note into the trash, and laughed to himself at the grammar and spelling mistakes. He received those occasionally, and threw all of them away. The Daily Prophet had asked him to give an interview, but he would have to refuse.

Finally, he reached the last letter. It was from the Minister of Magic, and Harry’s heart skipped a few beats. It was opened more apprehensively then every other note he had ever received.

Mr. Harry J. Potter,

As to your request for a Underage Magic Usage Exemption Form, it has been denied flatly. I will not issue it, as you do not need it because you-know-who HAS NOT RETURNED.

Cornelius Oswald Fudge,

Minister of Magic

“DAMMIT!!” Harry screamed. “Fine. Just Fine! DAMN!” He threw the letter in a ball, across the room and raged, “How the bloody hell am I supposed to train if I can’t have a wand, huh? How the hell am I supposed to take on Voldemort if I can’t even be ready for him, It doesn’t exactly do me much good does it? NO! I need to be able to train Minister, dammit, I need to be able to train, I don’t have another option.

“If I had another option don’t you think I would have taken it by now? Do you, Mr. I can’t accept the truth until a dead body is at my feet. Damn you Fudge, Damn You!” He gave a choked scream and dropped to the ground beside his bed. He wanted to sleep and never wake up, but he had to much physical energy. Harry lifted a book from his chest and threw it with all his strength.

It slammed into Hedwig’s cage and she squawked loudly. He through the light from his table, and it shattered against the wall.

The clock was beaten with his fists until nothing remained but the flattened fragments. The table was overturned, spilling water into a river that moved, snakelike over his floor. His pillow was ripped in half by the force of his grip upon it, and feathers floated patiently downward.

It didn’t matter. He was stuck in a dead end. There was nothing he could do. Everything had hinged upon the Minister giving him the form, and now it was refused. He was stuck.

“Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!” He shouted again, and again, using each to punctuate the inkpots he threw to the wall. Streaks of black oozed down; black, blue, iridescent, green, violet, and even a blood red. When his hand found his glasses upon his face, he clutched them until they shattered. There was no pain, and he threw the remnants to join the ink. “Shit, I can’t DO THIS, Sirius! Dad, I can’t manage it. I can’t. It’s impossible without that God-be-damned form! Shit. Damn. Fucking Hell!”

He ran his hands over his face as the adrenaline driven energy ebbed away and felt pain in both. Eyes blurred from lack of glasses, he could still make out the crimson flood coating his palms. It had a strange beauty to it, like a piece of blown glass, painted by a master. Harry was enraptured by the splendor and throbbing of it. So centered was he on what was before him, the blood began to fall to the floor, that he barely heard the crack of Apparation.

His eyes found their way up, and he saw a professor standing before him.

“Damn boy, can’t you do anything properly? If you wanted to die, why didn’t you just let Voldemort find you, it would have saved time.” Severus Snape growled as he began to magically heal Harry. The pain in his face and hands was gone. “Or was that not your intent? There. Now, where did your glasses go you oaf?” Harry pointed blearily. “Occulus Reparo. There, put them on.” The room moved back into focus, and Harry stared about bleakly at the havoc he had wreaked. Little was untouched, and many things he loved were destroyed.

“Reparo. Scourgify.” Snape corrected everything that Harry had done in just a few brief seconds, and Harry hung his head. The weighty embarrassment for what he had done crashed down and he closed his eyes.

He was behaving like a fool Sirius would never have done that, and neither would his father. “Professor, I –”

“Quiet, Potter. There is no time for your petty excuses now, although I will expect an explanation later, and it had better be damn good to justify what you did. For the mean time, we need to leave. I have a Portkey with me.”

“Why do –”

“Something is wrong with Lupin.”

Harry felt the bottom drop out of his stomach and he froze. For a few seconds he could only think about all the times he had lost people. The screams, the begging, the tears of pain echoed in his head, but above them all floated the image of Sirius falling through the veil, and Remus holding him back.

The Portkey was placed before him, and he felt the familiar jerk behind his navel.