"It's my turn," Harry whispered to himself, his voice filled with resolve, as he stuffed a few changes of clothes and his potions kit in a duffel bag. He winced with each movement and blood dripped from the welts on his back that his uncle had so graciously gifted him with. He didn't stop though, determined as he was.

He had finally decided enough was enough! He was leaving; the old coot's blood wards be damned! A sneer passed over his face, he'd show them! He shoved his photo album in the bag and his face hardened when a shard of mirror fell out.

He had begun the summer mourning Sirius, but upon the realization that he barely knew him; he just couldn't bring himself to truly grieve the man, only the shadow of what could have been. Sirius had been the adult, a foolhardy and reckless one at that, and it had been his choice, not Harry's to go to the Department of Mysteries. Harry was done being reckless, he was done having his life controlled, and done being Gryffindor.

He had gone the caring, hotheaded, and so-called-noble-and-righteous-route, and look how that had turned out. He was going to embrace his Slytherin side and, for once, put himself first. That was why he was leaving, he had no specific goal. All he wanted was to find a place where it didn't hurt anymore, where others respected him, and he had a semblance power.

So, he grabbed his bag and wand before heading downstairs. He headed into the living room where his family was seated like lumps on a coach that looked like it would collapse from the strain and watching the telly. They all turned to stare at him and he gave them a cold smile that madeDudley shudder before he spoke, "I'm leaving and I'm never coming back, I'll send a house elf for my trunk once I settle in. I would thank you for your hospitality, but you've never been hospitable."

Then he made his exit quietly, holding his head high and never looking back. He heard his uncle begin to shout after him, but by the time the obese man looked outside, Harry was gone, underneath the invisibility of his cloak. He didn't know where his final destination would be, but he knew his first stop: Spinner's End. He had a debt to collect.

"Damn them both," Severus Snape muttered to himself as he poured himself a generous glass of firewhisky before downing it in one gulp and pouring himself another to sip. He smiled cruelly to himself as the alcohol burned his throat. He was unsure which of his masters was worse.

Dumbledore was a sly bugger, catching you in his little guilt trips, and the Dark Lord just tortured and threatened. At least the Dark Lord is straightforward, Severus mused, a smirk playing his lips as he ran a tired hand through his long hair and stared into the flames of the pathetic little fire place in his pathetic little home. Then his arm began to burn.

As soon as Father is out of prison, Potter and his little friends won't have to worry, I'll kill him myself, Draco Malfoy thought darkly before shoving the thought into the back of his mind and bowing to his useless father's Lord. Malfoys were not meant to bow, people should be bowing to them or, better yet, not at all, Draco's teeth clenched.

"Young Malfoy, letsss hope you can do better than your fool of a father," a bone chilling voice hissed.

"Of course, My Lord or I will die trying," Draco choked out, barely concealing the tremble in his arm as he held it out to the snakelike man.

"Yessss, you will," Tom Riddle chuckled before pressing his phoenix feather wand much harder than necessary into Draco's left arm, "Morsmordre!"

Screams of pain filled the clearing.

A raven haired boy muttered as he tossed and turned in a troubled sleep in his seat in the back of the city bus. An elderly woman looked at him worriedly, but he was otherwise ignored by the occupants of the other seats. One hand reached up to clutch a lightning bolt shaped scar,; revealing a frayed leather journal clutched to his chest in the other.

The journal's pages had turned yellow with age and on the cover there was a beautifully drawn flower. It was obviously a woman's journal, but the young man clung to it like a life line. The boy was jarred as the bus made a sharp turn and the cover flipped open to reveal an inscription written in a nearly unreadable scrawl.

Lily,

Happy Birthday Flower! Don't let Tuney's grumpy attitude ruin your day. She's just a jealous prude! I found this potion for her; I think it will definitely help. It makes the drinker speak the opposite of what she thinks. She'd probably tell that lump Dursley something so horrible, he'd never come around again. I know you'd like that.

Love from your best friend for eternity,

Sev Snape

Draco nodded curtly to his godfather before apparting out of the clearing and back to Malfoy Manner. He swallowed back tears of anger and shame as his arm twinged, rubbing against his black cloak. He quickly made his way to the Manor's dueling room where he threw his cloak and mask in the corner and ordered the Dummies to begin. He was going to kill his father if it was the last thing he ever did.

Harry's mouth curled in disgust as he walked down the deserted street. It was littered with rubbish and many of the shabby houses had broken or boarded up windows. He could hear shouting coming from many of the house along with crashes and bangs. He tried to restrain himself from flinching, but it was instinctual after living with the Dursleys for so long.

He knew what house it was without even reading the address. If you looked for it, magic practically rolled off of it in waves of power. He walked up to the dark and dreary house that looked identical to the others to any passerby. Harry wasn't intimidated.

It had missing grey shingles and holey, mud brown siding. The white paint on the shutters was peeling and the top window had a large, rock shaped hole in it. All of the frayed, cream curtains were drawn and it looked just like his mother had described it when she was fourteen.

He made his way up the walk way, a slight smile briefly crossed his features as he felt the familiar tingle of magic he missed during the summer. The green-eyed boy knew Snape would be alerted to his presence by the wards, but took out his wand and gave two confident raps on the door anyway.

Severus grumbled as he made his way to the door, his limbs still shaking slightly from last night's Cruciatus. He was completely at a loss as to who it was. The last person to know his residence had died almost sixteen years ago and his house was warded against muggles.

He quickly pulled on a green sweater to cover his scarred upper body and opened the door with a scowl on his face. His jaw almost dropped at who he saw and it was only his years of composure that saved him the embarassment. He looked the boy over and was stunned into silence. Potter looked more like a refuge than the spoiled boy he remembered.

The boy had a black eye and a newly healed scar that spanned from the corner of his forhead down to the opposite cheek. He wore baggy clothes that had a suspicious stain on them and carried a duffel on the shoulder of his left arm, an arm that was held as if it was broken. His right arm leveled a wand at Snape's heart as the boy's bright green eyes squinted out from chin-length black hair, struggling to see clearly without glasses.

Snape just stared until Harry raised an eyebrow and his face gained a feral smile. When he spoke, his voice was steel, "Aren't you going to invite me in Sev? We have soo much to discuss."

Snape just stared until Harry raised an eyebrow and his face gained a feral smile. When he spoke, his voice was steel, "Aren't you going to invite me in Sev? We have soo much to discuss."

"Potter! You insolent brat! How dare you just think you can just waltz in here-" Snape began to shout in indignation, but was cut off

"Yes, yes, I'm so arrogant, just like my father. I get the point," Harry strode toward him, barely hiding his limp. Everything was starting to spin around and he found himself struggling to keep conscious, but somehow was able to manage it. Snape was eyeing him wearily now, his right arm twitching towards his side, where his wand stuck out of some surprisingly muggle blue jeans. Harry knew he was in no shape to duel him, so he flicked his left hand casually and Snape's wand zoomed out of his robes into it.

Potter had disarmed me! With wandless magic! Then, the brat had the nerve to stroll, no stroll isn't the right word, he limped past me into my house. My house! Snape closed the door and stormed into his living room. Dumbstruck, he watched as Potter was served tea by Black's old house elf. It was looking at him with a look of pure adulation on his grimy face.

Potter gestured for him to take a seat and handed him a cup of surprisingly delicious tea. He felt strangely affronted with Potter playing host in his house. I loathe the house, but it's still my house.

"Let's skip the pleasantries and get to straight to business," the boy gave him a smile that was sickeningly sweet and created a horrible feeling in his gut. He just nodded, Potter has the wands here; I'm just going along with it all. The boy the leaned down to grab something from his bag and Snape caught a glimpse of his back as his shirt rode up a bit.

The shirt's back was completely stained with a crusty brown and the patch of skin he had glimpsed was covered in blood. He wondered how the boy could move, let alone move without wincing. When he sat up and swayed a bit, Severus thought for a moment he had gotten lucky and Potter might faint, but he just closed his eyes for a bit before flipping through a book, an intense squint on his face. He apparently found what he was looking for and held the book out to for Snape to see. Severus's heart sank as he recognized the writing.

Draco winced as he stepped out of the shower, he had torn the dummies apart as best as he could, but they had given as good as they got. Stop complaining, you'll have to do better than that if you want any hope of killing your father. He could beat all of them on their max setting with his eyes closed. You're nothing compared to that.

Draco quickly dressed in his deatheater robes and mask before apparting to the pre-planned meeting place. Only two of the initiates had arrived already. It was Parkinson and Crabbe. She was trembling in either anticipation or fear and he was just staring around dumbly.

There were four more cracks and all the initiates had arrived. Draco pushed the horror of what he was about to do behind his occlumency shields and pointed his wand at the sky above the muggle house. He then muttered the word that had been seared into his brain just hours earlier, "Morsmordre!"

May 19, 1975- Fifth Year

Yesterday, something absolutely horrid occurred! Sev almost died and it was all that horrible Malfoy boy's fault. It was my week to do the nightly Prefect hall patrol duty on the fourth flour and I was doing my last round before I was going to head to bed. It was around midnight and I was walking by the boy's lavatory when all of a sudden I saw blood oozing out from under the door.

I flung the door open and to my absolute horror, there were two bodies lying in large puddles of blood. They had gashes all over their bodies and I was only able to recognize them by their wands which lay next to them. I then did the only thing I could think of, I did the revitalizing spell. It takes a part of the caster's magic and life force to heal the person or persons it is casted on.

I collapsed breathing hard, but their cuts began to heal until they were unnoticeable and they started to stir. Once they were fully awake, Malfoy yelled that he couldn't believe he owed a mudblood a life debt and stormed off. Severus drank a blood replenishing potion he had hidden in his robes and explained what had happened.

Sev had invented a spell, Sectumsempra. He was going to test it on some animals, but Malfoy found him and told him they could test it on eachother. Foolishly they went and tested it with no one to help them if something went wrong, which it did. After he was done explaining that we parted ways, exhausted.

Today, I went to the library and looked up life debt in a book titled Wizarding Debts by Cassiopeia Black. This is what the entry on life debts said:

"A life debt occurs when one wizard or witch saves another when they didn't have to (this excludes healers after they've taken their oath) and in the process gives up a part of their life force or magic to do so. A life debt makes it impossible for the indebted to kill the person whom they owe the debt to until it becomes void by them either saving the person whom they owe the debt to's life or by doing something specifically requested in return for the debt.

This request can be accepting a marriage proposal, paying a requested amount of gallons, giving up their first born, becoming an apprentice or giving an apprenticeship, committing an act of revenge, giving up a priceless heirloom, or even making an unbreakable vow. These are not the only options, but are some of the requests that have been made in the past. Once a request is made, it cannot be turned down, not even by the ministry.

If the debt is never repaid and person to who the debt is owed to dies, the debt moves on to the nearest relative. If the indebted dies, the debt ceases to exist."

I hate the thought of Sev owing me a debt, he's my best friend. Friends help each other because they're friends, he shouldn't owe me anything. Malfoy, on the other hand, it's probably good that he can't kill me. I just love to think of what the look on his face would be like if I asked him to marry me. Not that I would, it's just a funny thought.

-Lily

Screams filled the air as the initiates began to torture the adult muggles. Draco didn't pause to think, he only ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. He heard a door upstairs slam open and at the top of the stairs he came face to face with the bushy haired girl that had prompted this mission.

Draco knew the others were coming up fast, so he quickly disarmed her. It sent her flying against the wall at the end of the hallway, but she didn't scream. She just stared at him with a brave face, her bottom lip barely quivering. Draco ran over to her.

"I'm sorry Granger; I didn't want this. I can't help you, the only thing I can do is make this end quickly," Draco whispered, remorse evident in his cracking voice. He heard footsteps pounding up the stairs and quickly glanced at the girl. She gave him a shaky nod, "Avada Kedavra!"

Severus stared at the boy, blood leaving his face as he realized that he owed the boy a debt. The brat was probably going to make him do something horribly embarrassing or maybe force him to make an unbreakable vow to be nice to Gryffindors. He'd be dead by the first week of school, taking point is just too enjoyable.

"You know what this means right?" the boy asked gesturing to the passage. Snape nodded.

"Where did you get that, Lily said that it had disappeared during the summer after sixth year?" Snape asked stalling and in a way, generally curious. Had Lily lied to him?

"I was cleaning out the attic, it was in a box filled with magical stuff of my mum's that Aunt Petunia had nicked over the years," the boy looked thoughtful, "seeing it all was worth the extra lashes and no dinner for not finishing cleaning the attic."

Snape cringed at the off handed manner the boy had used to describe abuse, he probably hadn't meant to mention it at all. Had the muggles really done all that? Did Tuney let that happen to Lily's son? Lily who had always defended her sister, saying she was just a little jealous, but would never really hurt anyone.

"Now about this life debt business," Potter spoke again, tearing Severus out of his thoughts, "Harry Potter is going to die and you're going to help me."

That time Severus openly gaped at the boy. Then, before he could say anymore, the boy clutched at his scar and fainted dead away, his eyes rolling back in their sockets as he fell. Severus sprung into action, catching the boy hero just before his head made contact with the coffee table.