Title: Harry Potter and a Different Point of View

Genre: General

Rating: R

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sex, a little bit of everything

Major Pairings: H/Hr/R (It's a triangle, not a three-way. You terrible, terrible people!)

Other Pairings: H/G (Sickeningly platonic! In fact, their romantic relationship is only mentioned in passing.)

G/others (With regards to how Harry and Ron handle the guys after said
relationships fall apart.)

RL/NT (Quick, but sad.)

(A/N: There are a lot more, but most of them are unimportant. The ones that aren't would give away some of the plot too early.)

Summary: 6th year, 7th year, and beyond fic. Covered from many different points of view, some of which I hope are characterized correctly. Harry's gotta fight Voldemort and hopes to live a life afterwards. Let's see what happens.

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing. Everything belongs to JKR, and the song I am going to use for this chapter belongs to Billy Joel. Please don't sue!

A/N: Sorry I took down "Day of Reckoning." It needed to be revised and the first couple of chapters required more length. I mean come on; a 900-word chapter is just pathetic! I hope to have the first three chapters, bigger and better, posted with Harry's sixth and seventh years soon. I would also like to make the same kind of progress with this fic. I know POV fics have been done before, but I wanted to give it a try. There will probably be many different looks at the same scene so mind the redundancies. Sorry! I am also going to use a few songs to set the mood for the chapters; I hoped that what I have selected fits.

Chapter 1: Harry's POV

It is just so cold here.

This place has been cold for me ever since we arrived in September, but now that the winter season has descended it has chilled me to the bone. Fuck! I really hate December, but it's not like I'm warm anywhere else. The Dursley's...yeah right! How about Grimmauld Place? I didn't want anything to do with it after Sirius died, and I especially don't want it now that Remus is gone as well.

If I ever find the Order member that gave away the headquarters' location I will rip him or her in half. At least Remus and Tonks got to go together, before the shit really hit the fan...just like my mum and dad. I was the only one that knew about those two, and I really wasn't supposed to find out. I guess that's as close as I'll ever get to a typical childhood situation; walking in on them making love was different. It freaked the hell out of me and I guess that's normal...right?

Fuck! It's just so cold out here!

It's my own damn fault I suppose. I'm sitting on the shores of the lake, skimming stones, with nothing but my normal clothes and light traveling cloak wrapped about my shoulders. The moon and stars are twinkling brightly above me. It makes me feel like the heavens are laughing at me. The trees of the Forbidden Forest are swaying dangerously to my right and the castle is bearing down on me, ominously, from the left. Behind me, I can hear Hagrid playing something on that god-awful fiddle that he carved up back in first year. And finally, the ground below me is doing absolutely nothing. I wish it'd just swallow me whole. I am completely surrounded. But I am allowed to brood right? That's one of the perks of being the savior of the world; all the introspection I can stand. Well, quite frankly, I'm sick and fucking tired of the mind of one Harold James Potter. (Referring to myself in the third person is just another sure sign that I am slowly going insane.)

The only place I feel relatively cozy at is the Burrow. I think I am in love with that place. Everything about it is endearing. I love Mrs. Weasley's magical kitchen with all her cooking utensils flying around; the meandering brooks near the back of the property; the Quidditch paddock where I beat Charlie's ass to the snitch during our last match; even Ron's nauseatingly orange room.

I am officially a Weasley now. After all the shit that happened over the summer - Sirius, then the Dursleys, and finally Remus - they were waiting with open arms. Who am I to argue with that? They really want me...for me. I don't know why they do, but I won't begrudge them their wish. Ten years of being told that you are worthless really grates on a guy's self-esteem. I just don't think I deserve that much love.

Oh, there's the Giant Squid. I swear that thing knows about everything that goes on around here. Ever since I got back it's never failed to show itself to me. I am kind of getting sick of it. Why? I am getting sick of it because of the pity. Now that is something I have had in spades for the longest time.

I have really got to stop doing this. Tonks once told me that internal debate is a lot like alcohol; great in moderation, but it should never be abused. So, what did I come out here to do? Oh yeah! That's right. I have got to decide whether or not to accept Dumbledore's offer.

I know how to defeat Voldemort.

That just sounds alien to me. Let me think that thought again. I know how to defeat Voldemort. It was Sirius that showed me how.

Flashback

(Six months ago)

Ah hell! I'm having dreams about Sirius and that goddamn veil again. There he goes, arching backwards, but instead of the look of surprise I witnessed just weeks ago my own subconscious makes him look accusatory. What the hell is wrong with me!

(I was so busy beating myself up that I didn't see him poke his head back through the veil.)

"Harry..."

"Hold on a second Sirius, I am not quite done berating myself yet. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

"Harry..."

"Sirius, I thought I asked you to shut up. I am still wrestling with my demons here. I mean god, can't you be pat...Sirius!"

Holly hell, this is new. I mean he has never talked to me, and he most definitely never laughed at me before. I must be going crazy!

"You're not going crazy Harry. It's me, Sirius, in the flesh. Well...not really. I'm more ethereal if want to be all technical."

OK. I have had about enough; I want to wake up now.

"No Harry, you don't want to wake up. You need to hear this and I am using my only trip back to tell it to you."

"Wait, only trip back. What do you mean?"

"Well, when you get murdered your life is taken aware from you by means that aren't of your own volition. This implies that things are left undone, and wizards and witches that don't become ghosts get one shot to visit the living to complete a task. Your mother and father asked me to do this so they wouldn't waste their trip."

I can't believe they don't want to see me.

"Don't think that Harry! I am here to train you, and they don't want to have to worry about doing that with what little precious time that they'll have. All they want to do is to spend that night, before the final battle, with you as a family. They don't want to have to do anything but try and cram all the love that they have for you into twelve hours. Would you want to train during that time?

I guess he has got a point.

"Of course I have a point!"

"Could you stop reading my mind?"

"It is kind of difficult when I am in here Harry."

Immature prick!

"What was that Harry?"

"Nothing...and stop smirking at me!"

"Whatever you say Wonder Boy!"

"Don't call me any of your mother's pet names Sirius."

"Now that was a good one!"

(For a moment it was if the Department of Mysteries never happened, so I rushed forward and wrapped him in the biggest hug I could.)

"I missed you old man."

"I really missed you too Harry. Now... how about I show you this charm that your mother built for you works?"

"All right, let's get to work on it then."

"There isn't really all that much for you to do Harry, the protection charm your mother placed on you as an infant has been, and will be, the key to ending this war. There are two ways to utilize it and I know you'll just jump on the first one. 'All you need is love.' The love of a woman can be one of the greatest motivators in the world. It has the ability to simultaneously inspire poetry and insight war. Have you ever heard of Helen of Troy? Just find her Harry; find that one person in all of existence that is most important to you. If you can do that, then whatever it is that is inside of you, whatever it is that is locked behind this door in the Department of Mysteries, will be unleashed on Voldemort. You would be more than enough of a match for him."

(Even thinking about it now, I laugh at the reaction on Sirius's face when I asked him about the second option.)

"But Harry, the first one would be much easier to accomplish; so simple, so cut-and-dry. Are you worried about not being able to find someone who will love you in that way? If you are, then I know a certain brown-eyed girl who would return those feelings in an instant."

(Most of the time when a young man is confronted with the information that someone has found out about the girl that they hold a flame for, they stutter and blush; do all sorts of things that make them look foolish. I did no such thing. I looked right into Sirius's ethereal eyes and told him exactly why I wanted to hear the second option.)

"Sirius, you know why I won't do it. I was molded with too much selflessness and not enough selfishness to put Hermione in that kind of danger. Hell, she is already in too much as it is being a muggleborn and my best friend."

"But Harry, you don't understand. Your parents went through the same thing and they chose love over danger."

"Sirius, I have said this before and I'll say it again: I am not my parents. And in reality they were not in as much danger as I am in."

(At the time I couldn't believe that I had said it, and it looked as if Sirius didn't either. His look of shock quickly turned into a look of anger so great that I was afraid that he would have physically assaulted me...if he could have.)

"Sirius, this is in no way disrespect to my parents! They cared for me so much that they sacrificed a life of love that they had built for over a decade. I am so grateful of that decision that I can't even bring myself to put it into words. But the sad fact is that they didn't have to. Riddle was after me, not them, and by choosing me Voldemort cemented the prophecy. I have run that damned fortune cookie through my head a thousand times and I have come to the conclusion that we both should've died that night. But my parents gave their lives so that I, someone who didn't deserve it, could have the chance to live. That means more to me that anyone could ever know.

And besides, I know that I love Hermione, but I also know that she doesn't love me...not in that way at least. It could take years, knowing her, for Hermione to develop those kinds of romantic feelings for me. Those are years that the light side just doesn't have the fortune to wait. You know, and I know, that we would keep whatever relationship we might have a secret, and that secret, in and of itself, would probably tear us apart. And it is also a very big if that Hermione could ever love me like that anyway.

Above all else, I don't want to hurt Ron, my brother, like that. He loves her, as I do. I can really see them being happy together and safe together. I would never get in the way of that, no matter how glorious being with Hermione could be.

If there is a second option that allows for everyone to be happy and leaves the responsibility up to me, then I am all for that one. So I ask again: tell me what I have to do Sirius."

(Sirius looked as if he wanted to strangle me, yell at me, and cry for me all at the same time.)

"Damn you Harry! Goddamn you and the life that you have always chosen to lead," he says to me as a ghostly tear trickles down his face.

"So be it Sirius, but you aren't going to change my mind about this."

End of Flashback

And so, Sirius told me. I could use all the love that I already posses - friendship, family, etc. - and channel it into my wand. I could then use said wand as a key and open up that locked door in the Department of Mysteries. After that, I would have to force Voldemort inside and seal the door. This would rid the world of his presence forever. But to physically force Tommy into doing something he wouldn't want to do, I would have to train and unlock the rest of my magical abilities.

To tell the truth, I was mortified as Dumbledore displayed for me the arithmetic equation that represented my abilities. It was, for lack of a better word, astronomical. You see, not only am I housing my own magical well of power, but also Riddle's and what my mother had to bind to me to protect me.

The only problem with unlocking my potential is that Voldemort will just follow me up the ladder of magical transformation, and become just as powerful. I asked why, and the old headmaster told me that I already knew why. Just as Tommy gave me everything that he was on that cold October night fourteen and a half years ago, I gave him everything I could be when he used my blood to resurrect himself after the Triwizard Tournament. If I were to discover the secret, than, because of our connection, he would too.

So, of course, I am going to accept Dumbledore's offer. He tells me it would only take me about three years. That, however, was too long for my liking so I stipulated that should I accept I would need a Time Turner. I could turn the next year and a half into three and be done with it before graduation...if I make it that long.

In my musings, my feet have carried me all the way up to the seventh floor. I pass from one end of the corridor to the other, out of habit, and a handle appears before me as I make the third pass. I open the door, wondering just what the Room of Requirement might offer my crowded mind. I smile inwardly at the sight in front of me. It seems as if this old castle knows, just as Tonks did, that moderation is the key when someone is tormenting his or herself. I guess I need to forget for a while and the Room of Requirement has provided. There are only two things in the room, a baby grand piano and an acoustic guitar.

I have become quite good at both instruments over the past six months. I don't know how, but I would like to think that it's in my blood. However, it's probably just because I have spent every waking moment outside of my studies, and Quidditch, playing the damn things. I sit down and run my hands over the ebony and ivory keys of the piano, but a sense of melancholy settles within my heart. If it weren't for Remus' passing, I'd have probably never started to play.

After Remus died I didn't have any guardians, magical or otherwise, left in the world. I became an emancipated minor and all of the material belongings guaranteed to me by the wills of said guardians instantly transferred to me. To put it very, very mildly I was absolutely astounded by the worth of the Black and Potter houses. It took me days to sift through everything at Gringotts. I discovered the deeds to properties all over the world, hundreds of thousands of galleons, stock in companies (both muggle and wizard) that spanned the globe, a piece of parchment that looked like a contract binding a troupe of house elves to me, piles of dark objects, and all kinds of expensive jewelry. But the most important things I found were the muggle musical effects that my mother had kept; pianos, guitars, drums, violins, turn tables, records and the like were scattered haphazardly throughout my parent's vault. I instantly fell in love with the artists behind the albums that she had kept; the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Joel, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton (with and without Cream), Simon and Garfunkel, and many, many more. If you could name an artist from the '60s and '70s worth a shit, then my parents had owned something that they had done. In the end I decided to liquidate all the property except for Godric's Hollow and the Order's headquarters, give all the dark objects to Dumbledore to be done away with, placed all the money and jewelry I had been given in one vault, and I put everything of sentimental value in another. As for the music, I bought one of those trunks with the seven compartments that Moody had and deposited it all inside. That I would take with me. When one of the goblins asked me about security and the like, I told them that I trusted their judgment and gave them free reign. This brought about a much unexpected reaction.

In offering the goblins of Gringotts my complete trust in any decision that they could make on their biggest account in the entire world, I had done something no other wizard had done in a very, very long time. Not even Dumbledore, in his infinite knowledge and respect for all beings, ever completely trusted the goblins. I would come to find out later that this was because Grindewald was half-goblin, and Albus had been wounded far too thoroughly to totally forgive and forget. Even though the employees of the bank understood Albus' position, it upset them all the same. Having the most powerful and influential wizard consider you untrustworthy, coupled with the Goblin Wars, gave the entire wizarding populace a free ticket to disregard you. When I gave them my permission to do as they wished I actually witnessed a few genuine smiles.

Imagine that...a goblin smiling. They actually looked kind of warm with smiles on their faces. It reminded me of Dobby, and that brought a grin to my face. I used my new found position with the goblins to tell them how much more inviting they looked when they smiled and I was told that the muscles of the face have to work harder to frown and scowl and that was what goblins were all about. Work! Work! Work! It was a joke, a goblin joke, and I laughed loudly at the time. Remus once told me that I have an easy since of humor, it's just that my disposition scares most people away. The only ones who aren't afraid to joke with me are Fred and George, who have yet to catch me in a prank (but not for lack of trying), and keep me laughing by catching other people.

My mind wanders in the dark for a little while longer and I still haven't played my first note. My thoughts settle on what they always do when I am not thinking about what lies behind and what lies ahead...Hermione. I can never really put what she's like or what she does to me into words, but I can do it in song. My hands start to move of their own volition, and they start to play the first few chords of a song I instantly recognize. I have really come to love this song. It's by Billy Joel and it's from the "Songs in the Attic" album. It was probably one of the last records that they ever bought, and I can just imagine my dad singing this song to my mum...at least I hope he did.

I play a few more chords of the song and start to sing. Ginny is the only one I have ever shown my musical talents to and she told me that it was one of the most beautiful things she had ever heard. I think she cried the first time I played for her.

"She's got a way about her

I don't know what it is

But I know that I can't live without her

She's got a way of pleasin'

I don't know what it is

But there doesn't have to be a reason anyway

She's got a smile that heals me

I don't know why it is

But I have to laugh when she reveals me

She's got a way of talkin'

I don't know why it is

But it lifts me up when we are walkin' anywhere

She comes to me when I'm feelin' down

Inspires me without a sound

She touches me and I get turned around

She's got a way of showin'

How I make her feel

And I find the strength to keep on goin'

She's got a light around her

And everywhere she goes

A million dreams of love surround her everywhere

She comes to me when I'm feelin' down

Inspires me without a sound

She touches me and I get turned around

She's got a smile that heals me

I don't know why it is

But I have to laugh when she reveals me

She's got a way about her

I don't know what it is

But I know that I can't live without her anyway."

I alternate between the guitar and piano for a good hour and a half. I'm trying, but failing, to clear my head. I guess a good night's sleep is the only medicine for my situation. Dumbledore told me to sleep on it anyway. Although, when he had told me, he probably didn't expect to have to wait two months. I know that I am going to do it, but I just want to spend one final Christmas with everyone before Dumbledore locks me away in some far off corner of the school for a year and a half.

Before I realize it, I am in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady guarding Gryffindor Tower. I have gotten to know our protector over the past couple of months and I no longer call her the Fat Lady. I hate being disrespectful, especially to people I am acquainted with, so I just call her Lady. She doesn't seem to care either way and lets me call her Lady simply because her other title bothers me. Now that is the kind of consideration I appreciate! I give her the password ("Trevor") and step inside.

The first thing that my mind registers is the quiet of the common room, however, that doesn't really bug me all that much. It would if it were the middle of the term but it's the holidays, and the only people here are me, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and a couple of first years I have yet to meet.

I trod up the stairs as quietly as I can, hoping not to bother anyone that has already succumbed to the loving embrace of Morpheus, and I am suddenly attacked by an extreme case of apprehension. Now any other kid in this school probably wouldn't care. They would think, 'Hogwarts is the safest place in the world and there is nothing for me to worry about.' I, however, know different. So, I take out my wand and move even more quietly up the stairs...just to be cautious.

But all of my apprehension soon changes into trepidation and, dare I say it, fear. I have never felt afraid this early in the game. Now if I walked into my room and Voldemort was inside I'd be afraid, as it turns out I am halfway there, and I'm trembling! My body just does not want to complete this journey, but I am a Gryffindor, and Gryffindors laugh in the face of danger. (Famous last words)

Ever so slowly, I ease open the door to my dormitory and breathe a silent sigh of relief. Even though there is something amiss in this room, it isn't the diabolical situation my mind had conjured it up to be. I can only find one problem with this scene...it's happening in my bed, and I am not one of the participants. I mean come on Ron, I know my bed is the closest to the door but were you really that anxious to shag whomever it is you are shagging.

I'm actually a little angry right now, but suddenly I smile mischievously as I think of a proper way to punish the git. I would never disrupt him in the middle of a fuck, but said fuck is occurring in my bed, and therefore, based on the Maraurder code of honor, I get to thoroughly tease him for the rest of his natural born life. All I need is the identity of the person he is sleeping with.

I had a feeling that this would be the year that Ron became a sexual being here at Hogwarts. And, as I think back on it, I would say it began around Halloween. He thought he was so slick, stealing my map and my invisibility cloak for his late night tryst. He, and whomever he was with, even used the damn thing one time; I still can't get the smell out. I think I have way too much time on my hands if I can pinpoint, with some certainty, the night my best friend lost his virginity. 'What the hell,' I think with a shrug. My sex life is non-existence and if I have to live vicariously through my best mate, then so be it!

I follow the trail of clothes that lead to my bed and I can practically imagine the scene. They enter the room, kissing passionately, (probably up against the door) and the first things to go are the robes. They are lying at my feet right now. I imagine Ron and his mystery date tangled up and stumbling across the dormitory. I see a discarded jumper and bra while I stifle a laugh. A few buttons have been ripped off of Ron's mutilated shirt; I guess she was just as impatient as he was. The last things I notice are a pair of pants and a skirt. I assume the rest of the clothes are in there with them, for I am at the hangings that keep the identities of the lovers a secret from me and I can't find any more garments.

I raise my hands to peel back the curtains, but I still my digits as my four-poster starts to sway more violently. I am taken aback when I hear some very muffled sounds. She must be one helluva screamer if I can hear her, even faintly, through a silencing charm. I raise one of my hands to pull apart the hangings for just the tiniest of peeks.

I think my soul just shattered.

It's falling apart because there, before me, is a sight that I had thought I was ready for. Ever since I had admitted to Sirius that I had seen the possibility that they could happen, I had mentally prepared myself for catching them in this kind of act. Who the fuck did I think I was kidding!

I am trying to back up and shuffle out the door, but I know I am moving at a snail's pace. I just can't stop watching! Oh great! They are changing positions. Aren't I just the luckiest of voyeurs in the whole wide world?

It is starting to hurt. I mean physically, it is starting to get fucking heart wrenching. He is slamming into her with such force that I am surprised that he hasn't broken her yet. Hell, it's probably hurting me more than it is hurting her. What the fuck do I know? Of course it pains me more...I can see it on her face that she loves it. Every thrust feels like he is stabbing me in the heart with Sirius's old knife, and every muffled scream feels like someone is taking a seven inch nail and hammering it into my ear. I just can't do anything but slowly try to pad my way out of the room.

However, the sight before me is so morbidly hypnotizing that I totally forget about the geography of the room. I totally forget that I am moving away from my intended target. I totally forget that I am about to back right into the easel and sketches that Dean Thomas left on our dorm room coffee table. And as their combined orgasm hits, I fall right through said table. With a loud crash that breaks everyone out of his or her respective trances, mine being a lot less satisfying then the ones that my 'friends' are enjoying, a pair of brown eyes and a pair of blue eyes lock with my own pair of green eyes...everything goes to hell.

I pick my dejected body off the floor, cast one last morose glance at Ron and Hermione, and stumble out of the room. I run down the boys' staircase, take the last six or seven steps at a dive, and tumble all the way to the portrait hole. I push on the tapestry but it is unmoving. I scream for the Lady to open up and let me out, but she won't. She turns around in here tapestry and tells me that the three of us have to work this out. I acquiesce to her request because I know how important their love is to me, how important it is to us all.

I rush to the hearth over the fireplace and put my head in my hands. I absentmindedly run my fingers along the Lily & James wood carving to my right. My sobs are calming down when I hear one of the floorboards creak. I instantly know that it is Hermione and I instantly know she is alone. The floor would have made a much louder noise under her and Ron's combined weight.

She touches my shoulder, my head still in my hands, and I shy away. She asks, pleads with me, to look at her. And I do. It is her turn to flinch away from me.

"Oh God Harry! What have I done to you?" Hermione asks me with an air of total disbelief that a guy catching two of his best friends making love could cause him that much pain. She's smarter than that. She knows exactly why I feel this way; she is just trying to deny it. More importantly, she knows that I know that, but I'll play her little game.

"I don't know Hermione? You always thought that you knew me, the real me, better than anyone else. I also remember you telling me, while I was grieving for Sirius and Remus, that my eyes were the windows to my soul. Why don't you look into my eyes, look real fuckin' deep, and tell me exactly why...what you two did...hurt me...so much?"

And she did, she really looked into my eyes and probably my soul. However, she couldn't hold my gaze for very long because she saw my love for her...and she had seen how they had broken my heart.

A/N: Sorry to all those H/T shippers from DOR. I'll try to get it back on as soon as possible, but, in the meantime, why don't you give this one a look through. The H/Hr/R triangle is how I think the canon will go (she will be with Ron while Harry's love is unrequited...for a time) so this is as real as it gets for me. Please review!