It all began with a swish and a flick for me back in my first year. But that's not how my life would end. Or rather, how my future would end.

The Second War didn't end with a supposed evil curse by the Dark Lord Voldemort. No, it ended with a simple swish and flick. Voldemort had invaded Hogwarts as we all knew he would. It was only a matter of time anyway. Once we found out there was another Dark Lord in Albus Dumbledore, there were just too many enemies to fight. Many of them were unseen and just waiting for the right time to reveal themselves. So many lives were lost. All because of two different wars being fought by two different faces.

You see, Voldemort viewed himself as the ender of muggles. In many ways, he was the face of magic's prejudice. He wanted to remove the parasite known as Muggles from the world because in his mind, and in many minds, anyone without magic is below him. Anyone with "mudblood" or "half-blood" was seen as an invader to his way of life. He viewed them as a vile, disgusting, twisted creature that needed to be put down so the "purebloods" could live peacefully in their world, no matter how archaic or barbaric it seemed.

Sure, he was intelligent and cunning, but he always felt that power was his greatest gift. In fact, one of his favorite lines is that "There is no good or evil, there is only power." He fully believed that, with his huge raw amount of magic and the many purebloods who don't want their society to change so as to favor the mudbloods and half-bloods, he had all the power he would ever need. Dumbledore shared this view but there was a difference in how he sought his power.

On one hand, while Voldemort could be seen as sometimes upfront, he was almost always aggressive. Dumbledore, on the other hand, was something more. Dumbledore was conservative, passive, and the face of extreme cunning. He was originally a Gryffindor, but over time, he evolved into the master Slytherin. If the history books were right, he would have made Salazar proud in how he manipulated the public over so many years as the Headmaster of Britain's best school for witches and wizards: Hogwarts.

Becoming Headmaster of Hogwarts wasn't the only form of power he controlled. Once he defeated Grindelwald, he became the so-called Leader of the Light. Oh how wrong that would be proven. Dumbledore became akin to a god of the light, a savior of the world. Naturally, his word, views, and actions were seen as if they were from the magical form of the Christian holy bible. So, over time, he gained more power when he became the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and the Ministry of Magic's representative in the International Confederation of Wizards. With all of these forms of power, no one would dare question the supreme magical ruler of the Britain. With that power, he didn't even need to become the Minister. Especially since no matter who has the title of the Minister of Magic, he would only be an unaware puppet in Albus Dumbledore's ultimate chess game.

So the raw power wielded by Voldemort paled in comparison to what Dumbledore held over magical Britain. Dumbledore controlled or was the face of: the education system, the court system, the representation of magical Britain to the ICW, and the general sheep otherwise known as the public. Voldemort could have been the most powerful wizard of all time and be the face of the majority of the evil purebloods, but he could never amass that much power with how he conducted his business. Voldemort didn't need Dumbledore's power to kill the so-called Leader of the Light, however.

Voldemort used his own intelligence and cunning to try and outsmart Dumbledore if for only one time. In his old age, Dumbledore oddly enough never expected one of his own students to be a part of a trap to kill him. Dumbledore always felt that he could bring others to see his "light" and "save" them. So imagine his surprise when he learned that Voldemort planned to use Draco Malfoy, a son of one of the most prejudiced pureblooded families around and a son of Voldemort's most trusted inner circle members, to kill him.

Unfortunately for Voldemort, Dumbledore had long figured a way to make this little wrinkle in his plan an even bigger part of his plan. Dumbledore would be shown forever in the history books as the martyr for the Light who saved Harry Potter from certain death and had a part in making the world a better place. The public would practically worship and thank him instead of Merlin for saving their precious young savior in Harry Potter. He would very likely get his own Order of Dumbledore distinction. Regardless of that, he just wanted everyone to look up to and remember the name Albus Dumbledore forever. That was his legacy. All the while he was setting me up to die alongside of Voldemort as an unknowing martyr to his own greater good.

So enter Severus Snape, the ever faithful servant of Dumbledore. His true allegiance was originally to Voldemort, but when the love of his life Lily Potter nee Evans died by Voldemort's hand after begging him to spare her, he switched sides to play a double spy role for Dumbledore and watch over Lily's son. Even though he would always see his hated rival James Potter on the outside of Harry, he also would always see Lily's eyes coming from the inside of Harry. So to protect Lily's son for as long as possible, he had to kill Dumbledore.

Dumbledore discovered that Voldemort, in his quest for power and immortality, had made a Horcrux. And not just one, but 7 horcruxes were made. Voldemort never knew of the 7th horcrux that was unintentionally made inside of my scar on the night that he killed my parents. His initial suspicions began when Voldemort had possessed Professor Quirrel before my first year of Hogwarts. He didn't receive proof of those suspicions until the end of my second year when I showed him the diary pierced by the Basilisk fang down in the Chamber of Secrets.

I started to suspect something was up when Dumbledore suffered an injury to his hand before my sixth year. I later found out that his hand was cursed when he found another horcrux on a ring in the Gaunt house. It was around that same time when he wanted me to find a way to retrieve Professor Slughorn's memories of Tom Riddle, Voldemort's real name, from when he was a student at Hogwarts. When I finally did get Slughorn's memories, it proved that Riddle really did make a horcrux and that he may have made more than one. How many, we didn't know at the time.

Dumbledore found another Horcrux location shortly afterwards. We went to the location and retrieved the locket that was supposed to be a horcrux, but only with great difficulty. Upon our return, we noticed that Hogwarts was under attack from Death Eaters. We rushed to the Astronomy Tower where the Dark Mark was located only to realize that it was a trap. It was time for Dumbledore to put his plan into action.

Snape revealed to me later on through his own memories that Dumbledore didn't have longer than a year to live because of the curse. He could only contain it to his arm. So, with the knowledge that Voldemort was trying to kill him through Draco Malfoy, he used that as the base of his plan to achieve his greater good. Instead of having Draco kill him, he would have Snape use the Killing Curse to spare him the pain and humiliation. That and to try to "save" Draco from the dark so as to not corrupt his soul.

So as we got there, Dumbledore hit me with the body-binding curse and placed me under the invisibility cloak to once again protect me. Draco shows up and disarms Dumbledore in his moment of weakness, but then doesn't have the guts to kill Dumbledore by himself. This is proved even more when he hesitates as his Death Eater buddies arrive to cheer him on. Snape also arrives and after Dumbledore pleads with him, he proceeds to kill Dumbledore with the Killing Curse. His plan now almost complete, it ensures that I would have the resolve to continue the search and destruction of the horcruxes in honor of him.

Finding the horcruxes and destroying them over the course of the next year was damn near impossible. Doing so tested the limits and resolve of my best friends Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley. Despite the issues, we were able to destroy the locket, the Hufflepuff's cup, Ravenclaw's diadem, and eventually Riddle's snake. The others, the diary from second year, and the Gaunt ring which turned out to be the Resurrection Stone of the Deathly Hallows, were already destroyed previously by Dumbledore or myself. But I didn't know of the one inside my scar until I saw Snape's memories after he died at the Battle of Hogwarts. Once I knew of that, I had to die to get rid of it so that Riddle would become mortal again so anyone could kill him. Once again, Dumbledore's greater good led me to surrender to Riddle to "save" the students and everyone else from any more deaths. I go to the Forbidden Forest, with encouragement from my parents and Sirius and Remus, willing myself to face Voldemort.

Voldemort "kills" me and I go to the afterlife thinking that at least it's over. But here is Dumbledore again telling me about the greater good of his and his sob story about how he tried to keep my childhood intact and whatnot. Then, he tells me that I'm not dead, just in between. I could go on to the afterlife and be at peace, or I could go back, kill Riddle, and save everyone. Of course I chose to go back and save everyone. Riddle gets Malfoy's mother to check and see if I'm dead or not as I'm coming to. She notices that I'm alive, that I've survived another Killing Curse. Betraying Voldemort, she asks if her son is alive; I nod silently. After all, I saved him from Fiendfyre when we destroyed the diadem. Knowing that her son isn't dead, she announces that I am dead. With this news, Voldemort decides that he has to gloat and show his prized trophy off to everyone including his enemies. How wrong he was to do that.

After having Hagrid carry my body back to the school from the Forbidden Forest, he again gloats to and taunts the survivors of the earlier battle. Neville Longbottom, however, stands up to him, kills Nagini, the final horcrux thus making Riddle mortal again. With the distraction of battle resumed, I used the invisibility cloak to find Voldemort in the confusion. After seeing quite a few battles and helping silently along the way, I find Voldemort in battle. Taking the element of surprise, I reveal myself to him and after a war of words, we do battle. The fight was grueling, tiring, and fierce. It all seemed to be coming to a close when it led to the Astronomy Tower where the journey all began last year. I didn't realize that it would be the site of more than Voldemort and Dumbledore's death.

In my quest to end Riddle, I didn't notice my closest friends fighting nearby. Voldemort did, however, and in his desperation, he Accio'd Hermione to him. The sudden Accio caused her to lose hold of her wand. Defenseless, she screams as Voldemort levitates her in front of me and the others as a hostage. But Voldemort wasn't taking hostages. No, this was to be the final battle. He mocks me for a moment. I and the others drop my wand and surrender again to him. The battle stops all around us as everyone watches our exchange. Then, he does the unthinkable. He levitates her over the side of the railing. A shuffling occurs around me but I only have eyes for Hermione and Voldemort. I lock eyes with Hermione and she gives me a silent nod. Tears roll down my face as I realize that she is accepting her fate. Mocking me one last time with a sadistic smile, Voldemort cancels the spell and I watch in horror as she falls screaming to her death. No one would be able to save her. Everyone is stunned.

Voldemort laughs maniacally at our pain so in my anger, I pick up my wand. With righteous fury coursing through my body, I scream out the Killing Curse at the same time that Voldemort does. Our curses bypass each other as everything moves in slow motion. My curse hits Voldemort and I see him fall just before his reaches me. Knowing that I killed him, I close my eyes to accept peace one last time. At least I'll be with Hermione again. My life starts to flash inside my head but all I can see is Hermione in them. I hear a faint voice saying something but I can't discern what its saying. It matters not as everything goes black as the Killing Curse hits me. Just as Hermione was killed by a simple swish and flick, everything goes black and Harry Potter, as the world knows him, is no more.

Author's note:

Hello again everyone! I have returned with a different Harry Potter fanfiction story. I have an update posted on my profile for it and my recovery which caused its removal. I apologize if there are any errors or so for this story. I am not getting this beta'd but I do accept any constructive criticism that will help make it better. If you leave a review that is nothing but unnecessary hate, I will not accept that as constructive and will remove it from the reviews if and when able.

I can't promise that I will upload chapters frequently nor give you a timetable, so I request patience for this story as I build the story and learn lessons for and about it along the way. If you have any suggestions towards the story, they are welcome and I may even use them.

This chapter is being told from Harry's perspective in a sort of narrative form. While most of the story will be told from his view, there will be other's views as well.

This story does follow canon on some points but it will mostly be AU. It's going to be rated M for the language and violent themes anticipate. There will, however, be no lemons or things of that nature. I just can't see myself writing them for it here or elsewhere. There will be character death planned for way later on but who is still a mystery to me. My minimum goal for any story is 20 chapters but the amount can be infinite. Who am I to say it should end if everyone is enjoying it?

Anyway, feel free to leave a message or a review and I will get back to each and every single one of you as I can. I want this story to be good and enjoyable for everyone involved. I want to make this story worthy of the time spent by you the reader and I the author. Together, we can achieve this goal as this story will not succeed without the readers. Hopefully, this fanfic and any others that I do will bring you the same joy, happiness, and maybe even help for whatever is going on in your life that this site has given me.

With that being said, I thank you all for your time in viewing this and wish everyone a good day.