What's Left?

"Expelliarmus!"

"You can't win with that spell, Potter! You can't conquer me with a simple Disarming spell!" Voldemort sneered.

"You just watch me Riddle, I'm not going to stoop to your level. You're mortal now. There are no more Horcruxes to save you now, no back up plan. We're evenly matched. Now we can see who is truly the better wizard, Riddle," Harry said calmly. It coming out a lot calmer than he felt.

It was dark outside and the sky was lit only by the shooting of spells around them from the battling Death Eaters and Order members. But Harry was unconcerned with them at the moment. The Order easily out numbered the Death Eaters. Harry, on the other hand, was quite a sight. Blood matted his hair and was smeared across the right side of his face. Blood covered his left leg, a slight limp going unnoticed by him, bruises and cuts covered his body, and his entire body was shaking. Yet he stood strong, unbothered by his injuries or what stood before him.

"What do you mean? I would have felt it if you destroyed them!" Voldemort screamed in fear, and Harry felt the pain in his scar spike.

"Seven pieces of soul, Riddle, through out this county. It's a wonder you feel anything at all."

"You arrogant little prat! I knew you were no good and I know you have no idea where the Horcruxes-it's time you end your deceiving ways. AVADA KEDAV-"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

It all happened so fast. After his commitment, after saying he would never, in his life, stoop down to that level. He would never use dark magic to destroy dark magic. Yet here he was, standing with his wand pointed at the one man he truly loathed with his entire being. Yet he felt this unbelievable guilt rise within him. He had killed another man. No matter what this man had done, Harry didn't think he would ever be able to live with himself. He didn't care that the monster he had killed had attempted to kill him, had tried to kill his loved ones and had succeeded in some cases. All he saw was that boy, Tom Riddle, who was so a like to himself. A boy orphaned when he was born, a boy who never knew love. And he had destroyed him. How heartless could one be?

He couldn't take the guilt. He fell to his knees, his exhausted, beaten body catching up with him, and he vomited violently.

"Harry! Oh God! Harry!" he heard as Ginny came running toward him, "Harry, are you alright? Oh, you did it! You defeated him! You're free!" she said, kneeling next to him to say the next quite softly, "You can finally live your life the way you want to."

"Gin," Harry half sobbed quietly, while slowly lifting his head to look at her, "Gin, I'm so sorry. I killed him, I'm so sorry, Gin. I killed him."As he spoke, his throat constricted and the sobs grew more violent.

"Harry? What are you talking about? Why are you sorry?" Ginny asked softly, wondering what was so wrong with what had happened.

"I killed him...Tom, I killed him...sorry, so sorry..."

"Let's get you out of here. Everything will be alright babe," she said softly while turning around, "Ron! Hermione! Could you help me!" she yelled out as she saw them running toward her. What was wrong with Harry? He was still sobbing uncontrollably in Ginny's arms as Ron and Hermione helped him to his feet.

Harry was barely aware of his surroundings, but when he went to take a step, he was ripped out of his reverie as an anguished scream escaped his mouth, pain shot through his body, his left leg throbbing horribly.

"Oh God! Harry!" Harry heard Ginny scream as the impending darkness engulfed him completely. Away from the pain, and away from the guilt.

*-*-*-*-*-*

'You killed him, you swore you wouldn't sink that low.'

'I did it to save Ginny, to save everyone.'

'But couldn't there have been a better way?'

'They'll be proud of me. They always are.'

'That's what they say, but it's only a matter of time before they start seeing you as you see yourself...the real you...the true you...the person you wish you could bury...the murderer.'

'No they won't! I'm not a-'

'Murderer? You killed him, didn't you? He is dead by your hands, isn't he?'

No, I di-'

'Is he dead?'

'Yes, but-'

'Whose wand was raised against him?'

'Mine but-'

'So, you killed him?"

'Yes, but...but...what shall I do?'

'When you get the chance, run ... run, and never look back.'

"Harry? It's time to wake up."

"No, not yet. Too...early." Harry groaned in response, receiving a giggle in response.

"Harry, open your eyes. It's been nearly a week since the battle. Ron and Hermione are worried sick about you, as well as me. Mum is driving us insane with her worry, and the Minister calls nearly every hour for an update of your condition." Ginny said briskly, pulling Harry more, and more out of his slumber, "No matter his insensitivity to the matter."

At that, Harry opened his eyes and gave you a wisp of a smile that felt wrong sitting upon his face.

"How are Ron and Hermione?" he whispered, unable to speak in normal tones.

"That's so typical, Harry," she said in an exasperated voice, "Think about others before worrying about how you almost died."

"Gin, I'm sorry, okay?" he whispered frantically, seeing Ginny start to uncharacteristically tear up.

"What are you sorry about?" she asked as her tears vanished.

"I'm sorry, I'm just...I'm sorry." he said emotionally, delirium setting in as the pain reliever began to wear off.

"Harry, Harry, shhh, everything's going to be alright, I promise you, everything's going to work out," Ginny said as she gently hugged him. He unknowingly had tears running down his face as he drifted back to sleep

'Run...it's the only solution...'

*-*-*-*-*-*

Harry awoke suddenly in the middle of the night, drenched in a cold sweat, pain shooting through his body, but his mind wouldn't register it. He only had one thought, one mission to complete.

Run...

He looked around the room and found nothing but the empty hospital wing. He quietly got out of his bed, not even feeling the excruciating pain it caused.

Run...

When he reached the door to the hospital wing, nerves flitted through his stomach, and he hoped that security wasn't tight tonight. He reached out his hand to turn the handle and was slightly dumbfounded to find it unlocked, unguarded, unprotected.

'They're already starting to see you for who you are. For what you've done.'

As he walked carefully down the hallway, he was starting to wonder where everyone was. How could this castle ever be so empty, so lonely, so cold?

He could hear voices as he walked down the marble staircase. All of it was nonsense, streaming from the Great Hall.

"How is he coping, Remus?"

"I don't know, it looks like he's faring relatively well under the circumstances"

'See, they don't even know you anymore. Coping well, who are they kidding?'

Harry crept quickly past the Great Hall and the huge double doors before he could hear Mr. Weasley's response. He ran as fast as he could, straight into the Forbidden Forest, setting off the alarms in the Headmistress's office. The alarms would be long over before someone entered the room.

Harry ran until the pain in his body caused him to stop and rest. He would be far out of anybodies reach when the search started and long out of the Forest by the next morning. He would seemed to have disappeared, vanished from the face of the earth, not one trace left behind. Nobody would know what happened to the Boy-Who-Lived…and maybe they would never find out.