Chapter 1-Battle's End

The sunlit day had barely begun as Muggles busied themselves going about their daily affairs. No one noticed the two light pops that signaled two men apparating into an alley. Each man wore torn, black robes in various states of disrepair. The lanky thin body style of each as well as the dark eyes showed an obvious family relationship between the two men. The eyes showed other things.

Anger, shock, and disbelief..

"How….he was dead….I saw the Dark Lord kill him," Rabastan Lestrange sputtered to his brother.

Rodolphus grimly shrugged. "I am not sure how he managed it. Narcissa Malfoy checked him. She said he was dead."

"She lied!" shouted Rabastan. "I will see that she dies…slow and full of pain for her treachery."

Rodolphus wandered to a crate in the alley and sat. He felt almost apathetical to the Malfoy's betrayal. The whole world in which he had sworn his allegiance had crumbled. What was one last act of reprisal compared to that? It seemed like a lifetime ago that he, along with his wife, followed the Dark Lord to face down Hogwarts. The constant action of the attack thrilled him. He snuffed out the lives of seven heroes during the attack. He remembered the rush of excitement each life he ended gave him. Nameless faces worth as much as a common cockroach.

However, things changed when Potter appeared from nowhere. When the boy threw off his invisibility cloak the first vestiges of fear gripped Rodolphus Lestrange at that point.

It never left.

Fear was an unfamiliar emotion for Rodolphus. Well, that wasn't quite true. Fear had always been there in his life….but it was always others fearing him. To be honest, he hadn't feared anyone but the Dark Lord in quite some time. But, this fear was by far different. Yes, it was an unfamiliar and unwelcome feeling. This seemed like the end of the world that the Lestranges had sacrificed their time, their money, and their very lives.

Rabastan noticed the quiet demeanor of his brother. He thought he knew his brother's heart. "I'm sorry for Bella, Rodolphus. She will be avenged."

Rodolphus' head popped up. He was surprised about how little her death affected him. Sure, she was his wife, but by name only. Once she was maybe, but the moment she pledged allegiance to the Dark Lord, she no longer needed him. Still….because she was pledged to him, her death must be answered.

Rodolphus' eyes flashed with intensity as he quietly uttered, "They will all pay, Rabastan, no doubt. But, first we must look after ourselves. We are but two knights of the Old Pure Guard in a world of Muggle lovers and Mudbloods."

"The Rendezvous point then?"

Rodolphus sighed. "Yes. We will need some help to make any plan against Potter and his allies successful. I just hope we're not the only ones to escape…"

At that point the sibling conversation was interrupted by a Muggle entering the alley way. Both brothers stood with their wands pointed at the slightly overweight man. "Pardon, sirs, just looking…."

The sentence ended as the cutting curse slit his throat. The Muggle crumbled to the ground, drowning in his own blood. as the twin pops of the Lestrange brothers disappearing was the last sounds that he heard.

Harry woke from his four poster bed with a start in the Gryffindor Common Room with a start. The soft snores of Ron or Hermione echoed quietly through the room. He grabbed his glasses and looked at the watch Molly Weasley gave him. 2:21AM.

Wow, he thought, I slept all day. `He opened the drawer of his bed side table and peered in at the two wands laying side by side. He sighed. He had one more promise to keep. It seemed his entire existence was according to somebody else's plan. A small grin showed on his face, okay maybe just Dumbledore's plan, he thought.

Even though his former headmaster had died almost a year ago, his touch seemed to be in every step Harry took….well…since the day he was born. Harry looked down at the less familiar piece of wood in the drawer…only one more thing to do, he thought, then maybe I can live the rest of my life. He grabbed both wands and his invisibility cloak and quietly and stiffly rose out of bed with a soft groan. He looked down and noticed the torn and stained clothes. Bullocks, my invisibility cloak won't do much if everyone can smell me from twenty meters, he thought. At the end of the bed he noticed a shirt, jeans, socks, and underwear folded at the edge of the bed. Thank God for house elf thoughtfulness, he thought.

Grabbing the change of clothes, Harry crept to the bathroom to rinse and change. He glanced over at Ron and Hermoine cuddled on Ron's old bed together. A ghost of a grin reached his lips as thought back to their first kiss. The grin slowly faded as he thought about what he needed to do.

As he entered the shower area, he closed the door softy. "Mufflliato," he muttered to keep his friends from being woken up as he showered. He turned the water on as he thought, One more task to accomplish, return Dumbledore's wand, and I will be free.

Free?

Free to do what?

As he let the warm water rain down over his head, he noticed the deep bruising on his chest. He winced as the water hit it. As he slowly willed himself to tolerate the water on his chest, a new insecurity set in. There was another part of his story, yet unwritten. For the first time in his life, his life would be his own.

On the plus side, no having to stay at the Dursley's, no horcruxes, no Voldemort. His path in life would no longer be mapped out. He would be free to live anywhere he wanted, with anyone he wanted.

On the other side of the ledger, how do you live a normal life? For the millionth time, he wished his parents were still alive. What if he couldn't get through the crap his first seventeen plus years of life had dished out. What if ….Ginny? He had spent months wishing she was with him, but would she still be there for him? After some of the stuff Neville had told him, he knew that the hell she experienced . Maybe she would blame him for it all.

Hell, he blamed him for it all.

He suddenly shut the water off and stared unseeing at the wall in front of him as his stomach clenched tightly. What about Fred, Remus, Tonks? How many were dead because of him? The nausea made him slightly wobbly as he threw up in the tub. How could he forget them? He rested his head on the shower wall as he thought of the implications. He would never have a life. He will have to spend it paying penance for the ones that died to help him. Without conscious thought, vanished the regurgitation away as he stepped out of the tub.

Harry brushed his teeth and dressed silently. As he walked to the common room he knew only one thought.

He would never be free.