Disclaimer: Any of J. characters belong to her.


A.N. This story is a response to a request that I received which went as follows:top draco/bottom hp romance m chapter fic: Harry is depressed after the death of Sirius. He's fed up of being Dumbledor's pawn and decided to take control of his own life and live it how he wants. Its the summer holiday before Harry's 6th year and Harry decides he needs a change of image, (u no the usual
goth thing with piercings, ne piercings u like but as i hav a lip ring myself it'd b cool if that was one of them) and tattoo's. He also meets some new people (perhaps in muggle London?) that introduce him to drugs.

Obviously Harry discovers he's gay, perhaps by having a relationship/one-night stand with one of his new friends? Neway when he gets back to school he takes an interest in a certain blonde Slytherin.

I will try updating once a week if I can.

New Directions

Chapter 1

Harry stormed out of Dumbledore's office, letting the door slam shut behind him, he was pleased to hear the portraits of the former headmasters and mistresses rattle on the wallswall behind him.

"Now Dumbledore, will you really put up with that, we would not. I would punish such impetuous behaviour with a firm session with the school cane, why they let such traditions die out I'll never know; kept the students firmly in their places."

Harry did not stick around to catch Dumbledore's response to the nameless headmaster. He hurried down the spiral staircase and past the stone gargoyle before stopping in front of a blank stretch of wall, which he kicked in his anger. Despite what Dumbledore said, he was still responsible for Sirius' death, he was the one who believed the vision Voldemort sent and went off on the fake rescue mission.

"Despite popular belief, you are still just a student here Potter, and as such you should respect school property." Came the acerbic voice of Snape behind him. "Now I would suggest you return to your dormitory before I start taking points."

Harry turned around, his emblazoned eyes glaring at his professor. "I don't care what you think Snape, all you ever do is scorn and ridicule me, and it's because of you that Sirius is dead.

"And pray tell, Potter, why is the death of your mutt of a godfather my fault?"

"Well let's see; if you could have put aside your prejudices against my father and saw me for just me and actually taught me occlumency this year like you were supposed to then maybe I wouldn't have had that vision from Voldemort, or I would have been able to recognise it for what it was."

With that, Harry turned around, ignoring Snape's reply to watch his attitude or he would end up the same way as his godfather. He walked away down the corridor, Snape's calls for him to come back gradually fading away until his deduction of points was lost to the surroundings.

He let his feet carry him through the deserted halls, not really paying any attention to where he was going so eventually he found himself stood at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the astronomy tower. Had it only been yesterday that he had been up here for his O.W.L watching as Umbridge led her attack on Hagrid forcing him to flee the school and where the entire fifth year astronomy class witnessed thefour cowardly ministry lackeys unleash an unprovoked attack of four stupefy spells against their deputy headmistress, which had landed her in St Mungos.

Knowing the tower would be deserted at this time of night, with most classes and exams being over, he slowly started to climb the staircase to the top. Opening the door he stepped out into the night air, the moonlight bathing him in its incandescent glow. He sank down on the floor; his back propped up against the railings, and thought about everything that Dumbledore had told him.

So there was a prophecy about him and Voldemort, which somehow revolved around killing or be killed. His thoughts drifted to what would happen if he were the one to die; he would be leaving behind a lot of friends and the people who loved him, all those that had shown him support over the years; Hermione, Ron and the rest of the Weasleys, Neville and Luna, the D.A and his teachers. Even the whole wizarding world had shown their support at one time or another when they were not being so fickle about him being an attention seeking brat or not. Would his friends fall apart without him there? With Ron and Hermione, he sometimes felt like the glue sticking the three of them together, they were stronger together than split apart. The Weasley's considered him a part of their family; Mrs Weasley had likened him to another son that summer at Grimmauld Place. No one, with the exception of Dumbledore, was strong enough nor ready to face Voldemort, yes they were perfectly capable of holding themselves against death eater attacks, but the death eaters, even combined, were nowhere near the strength of their master.

No, he had to survive. He was the one to survive Voldemort as a baby, and had come out of every confrontation he had had with him on top since he had re-entered the wizarding world. Prophecy or not, he had to defeat Voldemort, and he would not rest until he did so.

"Harry?" A voice called out to him from the doorway and he looked up to see Ginny stood there.

She walked over and sat down next to him. "Neville and I were starting to get worried when you didn't come back to the common room after we got back from the hospital wing, so we decided to come and look for you. We didn't want you doing anything stupid considering you've just lost Sirius; you could have done anything in your grief." She placed her hand on his arm, "you weren't going to do something you might regret, were you?"

"Don't worry Ginny, I just came up here to think, Dumbledore told me a lot of things that I need to consider." He rested his head on her shoulder, "I would never consider killing myself, if that's what you're worried about. Besides, I have a job to do, and I have to ensure that I do not die until it is all over."

He told her everything that had happened in the department of mysteries from when he had gone into the veil room. He told her how the prophecy had been a copy, how Dumbledore had heard the original, but had kept it from him all these years. "He knew from the beginning I had a connection with Voldemort, and despite his wanting me to have a normal childhood, it's something I've never had. I've given up doing things his way, I will kill Voldemort once and for all before this year is over, and I will be doing it my way."

Ginny slipped a hand around Harry's shoulders and ran a soothing hand over them. "And you'll do just that Harry, I know you will" Her hand eventually came to rest in Harry's hair. "I think you should go for a new look, something to tell the world you're serious about what you are going to do."

Harry raised his head to look at her. "You really think so; you think people will take me seriously if I change."

"Oh most definitely, I mean everyone knows what Harry Potter looks like, but that's just the school boy look. You need to show them that you've grown into a man. The bad boy look will definitely show them that you mean business. You're throwing off the shackles that Dumbledore has tied you down with and showing that you don't need him. You'll get all the girls flocking to you, they love a bad boy."

Harry laughed for a moment before considering that Ginny could well be right. A new look, bad boy or not, would show Dumbledore and the rest of the world that he was serious about defeating Voldemort and that it would be on his own terms. He would not let that prophecy dictate his life; it might have set him up for where he was now, but for the rest of the way he was on his own. He would make sure that Sirius' death was not in vain if he could help it. He stood up, pulling Ginny along with him. "Come on, if we're going to pull this off we need to start planning."

He started towards the door to the tower so did not see Ginny's smile nor hear her whispered words of, "that's my Harry."