Harry gave Ron and Hermione one last, odd look and then slipped off into the shadows. He didn't think they would miss him – judging by the way they'd been clinging to each other these past few days they'd finally gotten their acts together and started a relationship so would probably welcome the time away from him – but Harry still didn't want them asking any questions about where he was going.

It was a few days since Professor Dumbledore had been murdered by the greasy git of the dungeons, Severus Snape and the funeral had just finished. In light of the murder term would be ending early so in about an hour the Hogwarts Express would be taking them all away in the summer. That meant an hour or less was all the time Harry had to figure out what the hell was going on.

Now that Professor Dumbledore was dead finding the horcruxes and finishing off Voldemort was up to the three of them but Ron and Hermione had shown absolutely no sign of wanting to talk about it. For a while Harry had thought they just felt it was inappropriate to talk about the mission so soon after Professor Dumbledore's death but when Ron had asked him what he and the headmaster had been doing away from Hogwarts the night of the murder Harry had realised there was something seriously strange going on. Somehow Ron and Hermione had forgotten about the horcruxes.

Harry made his way to the headmaster's office. Professor McGonagall had started moving into the office the night Professor Dumbledore died but he'd just seen her walking around the lake with some of the delegation from the Ministry so hopefully Harry had a bit of time to get things done. He'd noticed the other night that a portrait of Professor Dumbledore had already joined the ranks of past headmasters on the office wall and hoped that the portrait could tell him what was going on. If not then he would have to search the office and hope that he could find some answers on his own.

He hurried up to the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the office. "Canary creams," he said. The gargoyle immediately sprang aside. Thank god Professor McGonagall hadn't yet gotten around to changing Professor Dumbledore's last password.

He hurried up the spiral staircases, despite being reluctant to enter the office. He'd been struck the other night of the weirdness seeing Professor McGonagall in this office and he didn't think it would ever get any easier being in here without Professor Dumbledore. He actually felt a bit sorry for Professor McGonagall who was going to have to live in here from now on. Squaring his shoulders he pushed open the door and stepped inside. His eyes were immediately drawn to the portrait of Professor Dumbledore which was directly behind Professor McGonagall's new desk.

Unlike the other night the portrait was now awake. Professor Dumbledore smiled sadly down at Harry from his frame. Harry felt a stab of sadness knowing the professor would never be anything to him but a painted depiction again. "Hello sir," he said. "I am so sorr…"

"Don't apologize Harry," Professor Dumbledore said gently. "It's me who should be sorry. You tried to tell me your doubts about Severus and young Mr Malfoy all year and I just brushed them off. Now you are left on your own with the burden of finding the horcruxes."

"About that," Harry said. "You told me I could tell Ron and Hermione everything you told me and I did. These past few days, though they've been asking me questions I know they know the answer to about what we were doing away from Hogwarts…..that night. It's like they've been totally obliviated of everything I told them. Do you know how such a thing might be possible?"

"I'm afraid that is my fault, Harry," Professor Dumbledore confessed. "Let me explain. I'm sure you agree with me when I say that information about the horcruxes must be kept as strictly confidential as possible?"

"Absolutely," Harry said, shuddering as he thought what might happen if the wrong people got hold of the information about what Voldemort had done to achieve immortality. Either news would get back to Voldemort and he would make more horcruxes, making the war even more difficult to fight or other wannabe dark lords would do the same thing to make sure they couldn't be killed off.

"Well some months ago I protected what I knew about the horcruxes with a spell similar to that of the fildieus charm," Professor Dumbledore explained. "The spell was tied to the life force of two people: you and me. Basically in the event of my death everyone who had been told about the horcruxes, except for you as the other holder of the spell, had the information wiped from their memories."

Harry mulled over that information in his head for a while. The precaution Professor Dumbledore had taken made a lot of sense. "So does that mean Voldemort's forgotten about the horcruxes?" he asked hopefully. If that was the case the fighting the war would be at least somewhat easier. Voldemort wouldn't know anyone might be looking for the horcruxes so he wouldn't be protecting them.

"I'm afraid it isn't possible to make someone forget about their own soul," Professor Dumbledore said, shaking his head. "If in the unlikely event, however, Voldemort has told someone else about the horcruxes that person will have forgotten."

"Damn," Harry said. "I should probably re-case the spell, shouldn't I? After all I'm the one protecting the information now."

"Very true," Professor Dumbledore said. "Have you any idea who you will make the second holder of the spell?"

Harry considered his options. "I would say Ron or Hermione but if I die they'll probably be with me," he said. "The Weasleys and everyone in the Order of the Phoenix are already major targets so I can't tell them. What about Professor Flitwick? He's a really good fighter so chances are high that he'll survive the war and he wouldn't be as bigger target as Professor McGonagall, who is now the Head of Hogwarts."

"That is sound logic about Mr Weasley and Miss Granger," Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "And I believe Filius would be a good candidate. Minerva does not need the added burden. If you go over to the cabinet where I kept my pensive, tap the left hand door with your wand and say 'chocolate cake' you will find all the information you need to re-cast the spell. In fact everything in the secret room I want you to have. Take that box from over by the door and banish everything into it quickly before Minerva comes back."

Harry quickly did as he was told. He opened the secret room and found, not only Professor Dumbledore's pensive and several racks of memories, but scrolls and scrolls of handwritten notes, hundreds of books and the key to a Gringotts vault. Harry realised he had just been gifted with Professor Dumbledore's private library. Harry had never been an academic person but even he was awed. He quickly banished everything into the box which must have been bigger on the inside than out but he held the Gringotts key back. "What's this?" he asked Professor Dumbledore as he shut up the now empty secret room.

"That is the key to Gringotts vault 007, my inheritance from Nicholas and Pernelle Flamel," Professor Dumbledore explained. "I want you to use the money and everything else attached to the vault to fund the war effort and then use whatever is left over to build yourself a happy future."

Harry was touched by Professor Dumbledore's confidence that he would live to have a happy future. "Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome, Harry. I only wish I could have done more for you. I hate that you have been left with this horrible burden," Professor Dumbledore said. "My last bit of advice for you is to go to Gringotts as soon as possible and have my Last Will and Testament read. The Dursleys are your guardians in the muggle world but since Sirius died I have been your guardian in the magical world. I made arrangements for you in the event I passed away before your coming of age. It is only a few weeks until you turn seventeen but I wouldn't put it past the Ministry of Magic to use those weeks to try and gain control of you so I advise you to get to Gringotts quickly. What I have done will prevent anyone from getting control of you. I also advise you against returning to your aunt's home again. I know I said last summer you should but it is all rather redundant now you are on your own."

"Yes sir," Harry said, pleased about never having to see the Dursleys again. "Well, I guess I should go before Professor McGonagall should come back. She's already been asking questions I don't want to answer."

"Yes, she is rather put out with you, Harry," Professor Dumbledore said. "And don't worry. Minerva doesn't officially become headmistress until next week so the other portraits still answer to me. That means they can't tell her about our conversation."

Harry was shocked. "I didn't even think about that, sir."

"Well it doesn't matter now," Professor Dumbledore said. "Good luck, Harry. I know you can do this. Make sure you stop by this office to tell me what happened after all of this is over."

"I will, sir," Harry promised, very much looking forward to the day he would be free to have that conversation. Professor Dumbledore's confidence that he would survive the war began to make him believe he would survive. "Goodbye, sir."

He went back down the spiral staircase and sealed the gargoyle behind him. Just as he had been all year he was carrying his invisibility cloak with him. He hastily put it on, covering both himself and the box just in case he crossed paths with Professor McGonagall in the corridors. It would be just his luck that he met her and she recognised the box as something from her new office. A complication like that was the last thing he needed right now.

He returned to his dorm in Gryffindor Tower and sealed the curtains around his bed. Rather than go through the hundreds of books he used a summoning charm to retrieve the information he needed on the spell to protect the information about the horcruxes from the box. It turned out that the spell was on one of the handwritten scrolls which suggested to Harry that Professor Dumbledore had designed it himself. Harry was awed that Professor Dumbledore would give him a gift that most academics in the world would kill to get hold of.

He read the scroll and found the spell to be fairly easy. He wouldn't even have to tell Professor Flitwick he was casting it. He also found he didn't even have to tell Professor Flitwick about the horcruxes. He could just write a letter about them, tie the spell to it, and make arrangements for the charms professor to receive the letter in the event of his death. Harry decided that was the road he was going to go down. He also decided he wasn't going to remind Ron and Hermione about the horcruxes. Finding and destroying them was his responsibility and nobody else's. He didn't want anybody else risking themselves for him unless they absolutely had to. Besides, he knew that finding the horcruxes meant he was going to have to disappear for a while, cutting off contact with everyone. Mrs Weasley was already a wreck with Bill on his sickbed, Percy still estranged from the family and most of her other children in the Order. He couldn't bring himself to worry her further by taking Ron away as well.

Harry decided what his path was going to be. He had to disappear now. If he got on the Hogwarts Express he would be met by the Order at the other end and forced back to Privet Drive or, at least, made to go to the Burrow. The Burrow wouldn't be so bad but if he went there he probably wouldn't be able to escape Mrs Weasley's clutches when it came time to start his mission and he did not want to make things awkward by living with his ex-girlfriend Ginny. He would be sorry to miss Bill and Fleur's wedding but it was unavoidable.

He wrote a detailed letter to Professor Flitwick and cast Professor Dumbledore's spell on it. Goblins seemed more trustworthy than most humans right now so he decided to take it to Gringotts and task them with delivering it to the charms professor in the event of his death. He also wrote another letter, this time one to Ron and Hermione. This one was a lot harder to write.

Dear Ron and Hermione,

By the time you get this I will have already gone away.

I'm sorry for the deception but Professor Dumbledore left me a task that I have to complete now he is gone.

Try not to worry about me too much.

Professor Dumbledore has left me well prepared.

We will see each other again one day but in case we don't I hope you guys are happy together, you deserve it.

You guys are the best friends I could ever have asked for.

Thank you for sticking with me all this time.

Look after each other and be safe,

Harry

He added Professor Dumbledore's box to his trunk and then took it up to the owlery where Hedwig was already waiting for him. She seemed to already know he was going away and she couldn't come with him. "Take this to Hermione, girl," he said, attaching the letter to her leg and petting the first friend he'd ever had. "You'll have to stay with her for now but I will come back for you."

Hedwig affectionately pecked Harry's ear and then swooped off out the window in search of Hermione. Harry watched her disappear and then started moving. He knew he had to get away from Hogwarts before Hermione got the letter because a mass search would be conducted for him as soon as she did. Putting the invisibility cloak back on he took his luggage and raced for the secret passage to Honeydukes. As soon as he got out of the candy store and in to Hogsmeade he apparated away to London. Harry was sure he was doing the right thing but he did feel a twinge of regret.

He had just left Hogwarts, the first and only real home he had ever known, and had no idea when, or even if, he would be back.