THE END... AND THE BEGINNING

By Hedwig Edwiges

Disclaimer: As in a lot of fanfics I enjoyed read, this states that all belongs to J.K.Rowling and I just was lucky enough to borrow and play with it a little. I'm pretty sure I picked some influences and ideas around the corner. It wasn't my intention to copy anyone or anything and I apologize if this – inadvertently – happened.

Summary: AU after OotP. From the summer before his sixth year until after the final battle with the Dark Lord, my thoughts about the life of Harry Potter.

Author's Note: This was my first try on a chaptered story and I have a prologue and five chapters. I stopped when a friend said I wasn't going anywhere. But I also decide to publish this anyway, even if I don't know if I'll come back to it, but considering how long I take to update my others stories, there is always hope.

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PROLOGUE

The group stood close to the desk in the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore put the crystal stone shaped as a five-point star on the table and over it, the red phoenix feather. With the tip of his wand Dumbledore touched the middle of the crystal and the stone opened up to engulf the feather, casting a reddish glow all over the room. Then each one of the group started to chant his or her part in the spell.

"In the name of the friends of old and forever, I here deposit my faith and my love for Harry Potter, thus my strength can be added to his", Remus Lupin used the tip of his wand to touch his chest where his heart was and then touched the open crystal.

"In the name of the friends of now and tomorrow, we here deposit our faith and our love for Harry Potter, thus our strength can be added to his", Hermione and Ron spoke together, repeating Lupin's actions with their wands.

"As the new family that welcomed him in our midst, we here deposit our faith and our love for Harry Potter, thus our strength can be added to his." This time it was Mr. and Mrs. Weasley speaking together, once again repeating the gesture to touch theirs chests and then the crystal with the tip of- their wands.

"As his mentor, protector and guide from old, today and as long as needed, I here deposit my faith and my love for Harry Potter, thus my strength can be added to his." Dumbledore's voice was low and husky but his words and gestures were clear and firm.

"As his soul mate that I believe I am now and forever, I here deposit all my faith and love for Harry Potter, thus my strength can be added to his." The words were muttered with absolute conviction and no shyness by Ginny.

In the silence that followed, Fawkes, Professor Dumbledore's phoenix, flew graciously to the middle of the group, stopped on the table, inclined his head and let two tears drop inside the crystal. Then the bird went back to his perch, intoning a soothing song.

After that, Dumbledore closed the spell and the crystal, that now resembled a red star with its glow shinning from inside. Again Dumbledore flicked his wand, this time to create a necklace and attached the stone to it.

"It is done," he said. "Together with his mother gift, that runs in his blood, this is the most powerful protection charm we could create for Harry."

Sighs sounded around, between all gathered around the desk. None seemed keen to step back, to break the bond of strength enclosing all of them in that moment. Finally Dumbledore reached for the pendant and lifted it from his desk. "I'll speak with Harry and pass this on to him. Each and every one of you knows what to do. I believe the climax of this war is near. We all need to be prepared."

This seemed to be the cue for everyone to start moving and getting on with their chores. Fawkes silenced. Molly and Arthur Weasley went to the fireplace, disappearing in green fog. Ginny, Hermione and Ron turned to leave the Headmaster's office and Hermione stopped when he asked: "Could you send Harry here, please? I believe he should be in the Gryffindor common room."

"Yes, sir," she answered and the three Gryffindors left down the staircase.

Dumbledore turned to Lupin. "Remus, my friend, I believe we have reached the end of our journey. Voldemort is ready for his final assault; for he believes that in taking Hogwarts he can shift the balance in his favor. And it will be here that the Wizarding world will have to make its stand. We fight back or we crumble, no much space in-between."

The pale and thin face of Lupin was turned to the office door, as if entranced by the departure of the students or waiting for the arrival of another one. He answered without taking his eyes of the door.

"I agree, Headmaster. Those of our kind that choose to be here now will write the end of this chapter in Wizarding history. And, hopefully, also the beginning of the next one too."

"We may be the most important outpost, Remus, but certainly not the last. And you, maybe more than most, should know that the light always follows the darkness and is capable of engulfing and dispersing with it. Sometimes the night seems too long, but the sun always shines in the end."

"The question is if we have enough light to disperse the darkness that engulfs us now."

Dumbledore rose to his full height and with a glow of suppressed power in his eyes - the kind of glow that made Dumbledore's fame as the most powerful wizard alive and the only one He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named always feared.

"Do you not have faith in Harry?" He asked in a harsh voice.

"I always had the most complete faith in Harry. Sometimes I doubt the rest of the world," Lupin answered in a low voice.

Dumbledore couldn't respond to that because the door to his office opened to let in a young man, with black round-rimmed glasses over his brilliant green eyes and an unmistakable untidy mop of black hair covering his forehead and the scar that had made him famous since he was a baby.

Harry was still too thin for most people's standards. And shorter than most of his classmates. But he also had real muscles and a way to carry himself that spoke of readiness and confidence in his actions. All the same, his eyes also bore much more sorrow and knowledge of the world than any of his friends would wish for. Dumbledore and Lupin both stared at Harry's face, each looking for something there to give peace to their own troubled minds.

Lupin searched the boy's face and compared the too old eyes and crisped forehead with the donors of these features. James, Harry's father and one of Remus's best friends, would have crisps on his forehead before important tests – like O W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s – or when trying to solve a problem for Lily and his friends. But those moments never lasted long. And Lupin didn't remember having ever seen so much weight on Lily's eyes, even at the worst of the first war.

Dumbledore fixed Harry with his brilliant blue eyes, looking for any sign of uneasiness or distress. As he had thought so many times before, this wasn't how he wished for Harry to grow up. If Dumbledore were as powerful and infallible, as so many people believed, he would have been able to protect Harry from the many sorrows and pains the boy had experienced in his short life. Dumbledore would have had a handsome, confident and happy seventeen-year-old in front of him right now. But, instead, there was this boy grown to manhood far too early and too quickly, with eyes darkened from too many unwelcome thoughts and worries, and a posture that spoke of the weight over his young shoulders.

Lupin and Dumbledore sighed at the same time, but averted each other eyes, both knowing too well that 'if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride', a Muggle saying that never had more meaning than in Harry Potter's life.

"Hello, Remus, Headmaster," Harry acknowledged both men without trying to escape their scrutiny.

It had been a while since Harry reached the conclusion that trying to hide his emotions or his state of mind from his friends and teachers was not the best option. He coped with the attitude of each of them as just one more task he had to perform. The realHarry, the one who let go of his control or a reassured facade, showed himself at rare moments and to very few people indeed. And nowadays, Lupin wasn't among those few. Harry could see how much the war and the monthly transformations took from Lupin. The man was always thin and pale, regardless of the time of the month or how many times he ate at the Weasleys' home. And Harry had decided he wouldn't add to Remus Lupin's burden. On the contrary, he would do his best to lighten it.

During the summer after his fifth year, Harry spent some time immerge in a soul-searching quest and was able to understand some of Dumbledore's choices. He could even agree – grudgingly – with most. But after he learnt and accepted that the old wizard had his faults, their relationship changed. Harry spoke more freely, was able to discuss his ideas and the Headmaster's advice, even to disagree with him – from time to time. The two wizards reached an understanding toward their relationship: Dumbledore was the right wizard to follow and heed advice but he was also a human being. So Harry didn't expect Dumbledore to be perfect anymore. He just expected him to do the best in any situation. Likewise, Dumbledore expected the same from Harry.

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TBC…