Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me. I get no money for this.
Summary: Harry does what he feels must be done. Two versions of this fic. This one is with Light Harry
Warning: violence is present in this fic.
The last battle before sunrise
Harry looked outside his window, seeing the impeccable houses in his street in Privet Drive, Little Whining. How he loathed the sight. It symbolises the dislike some muggles have for anything out of the ordinary. Just like his family. The ones that are left of it, anyway. His parents, Lily Evans Potter and James Potter, had died by the hands of the most evil wizard known to Wizard-kind. He is called He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or You-Know-Who. Harry never addressed him as such anymore. He even no longer called him Voldemort, but Tom Marvolo Riddle, as his birth name is. He is the reason he grew up without parents. He is the reason why he grew up with his Uncle and Aunt and cousin. He could honestly say that he hated Tom.
His family were scarcely better. After his parents were murdered, he was placed with them by the headmaster of the wizard school Hogwarts. That had not been the best choice, in Harry's opinion. They held no love for the Boy-Who-Lived. Au contraire, they seemed to hate everything he was, everything he represented. He was a wizard, so in their eyes, he was a freak. He had unruly black hair that they took as a sign of rebellion. He needed glasses, so he was weak in their almost perfectly seeing eyes. He was thin, much more so than their own son Dudley, so they resented Harry for that too. He got average to good grades, unlike their own perfect son. And the list would go on and on like that. It didn't matter anymore to him. He no longer cared that they had mentally abused him for so many years. He no longer cared that they ignored him, or give him hard and many chores to do, or get angry at him for something he had not done. He just didn't give a damn anymore. It would be over soon enough because last night, when he turned eighteen, he had decided to move out. He would no longer bother them. His trunk was packed, using a charm so it could fit all his meagre belongings. He had just wanted one last look out of his window, to remind him that he shouldn't be too judgemental for those who were different. A good example of that is Remus.
Remus Lupin is a Dark Arts teacher extraordinaire and a werewolf. Werewolves are, sadly enough, not truly accepted by wizarding society. Nor are various others 'Magical Creatures'. The injustice of this all really ticked Harry of, yet he had to admit to himself that nothing can be done about it as long as Voldemort keeps his terrorising up. Harry promised himself years ago he would do something against this discrimination. Remus had not only been a teacher to him, after all. He was and still is a confidant and a friend, even after all that happened. He even saved his life once, in a roundabout way.
Harry lifted his trunk with a Wingardium Leviosa. He walked into the living room, where his aunt and uncle were watching TV. As he put down his trunk his uncle looked up. His face got red as he prepared to yell at the boy in anger. However, he never got the chance to utter one sound as Harry pointed his wand and cast Silencio on them both. "Sorry about that, uncle, but you see, I had something to tell you and you would not have given me the chance to say a thing. I will no longer allow you to treat me as a freak. I know this is too much to ask of you, so I have decided to leave. This means you never have to see me again. Don't bother trying to make me pay for imagined wrong-doings, it won't work anyway. Just one last thing before I leave. The spell will fade in about a half hour. Bye." Harry lifted his trunk again with Wingardium Leviosa and walked to the sidewalk. He looked left and right of him, to see if anyone was watching him. When nobody did, he apparated.
He found himself on the edge of a town. He didn't bother to get to know the name of the town, he just walked in. He spotted an inn and walked in. "Excuse me sir, do you have a room available?" The man looked up in surprise, but quickly answered. "Yes sir. A room for one?" "Yes and just one night to stay." The man nodded. "That will be 10 pounds (I don't work in pounds....is this a reasonable sum?)." Harry paid the man and accepted the key to his room. He went up there and put his trunk in it. The room looked nice. There was a small living room that had a soft blue couch and a glass table in it. The bed looked comfy enough, with a blue-white flowered sheet. Didn't matter though, because he had no intention of staying here. He swiftly walked out again, only carrying his wand. Once again outside, he cast a very powerful detection spell. It was keyed to Tom. Harry almost smiled, however he remained serious. Detection spells are such fickle things. Albus Dumbledore himself had cast a detection spell to find the Dark Lord, yet it had failed. And now Harry succeeded in basically the same spell. Not because he was so much powerful than Albus, but because of how this spell works. You see, Voldemort cast a spell so that any detection spell keyed to Voldemort would fail. Even so he could be tracked, because Voldemort had forgotten that his birth name was also a key to him. His disgust of his heritance had given Harry the chance to find him.
After this spell, he cast another, this one a bit more complicated. The spell turns the caster invisible, and he would make no sound. Another spell followed, so that spells meant for detection would bounce of him. He checked the spells thoroughly by jumping up and down next to passers-by. It seemed to work marvellously. This being done, he walked to Tom.
He could see a mansion in front of him, and knew without doubt that Tom was in there. Yet he could see no deatheaters. Still he sneaked in quietly (despite the spell he cast) and followed the direction his wand showed (spells that followed the direction spell had no influence on it).
He came to a halt in front of a door that was guarded by two deatheaters. He shot two Petrificus Totalis in quick succession at them. They fell down without making a sound, having no idea what just happened. Harry stepped over them and opened the door. Immediately he saw Tom sitting on the grand stair in the back of the room, as was he a king worthy of respect. Tom was looking straight at him without seeing him, trying to discover who or what opened the door. Just as Tom set of a spell, Harry walked to the left side of the room, so the spell wouldn't hit him. Better not to take any chances. He slowly walked to Tom, until he stood next to where he sat.
He took a moment to look around the room. It was surprisingly empty. There was the chair Tom was sitting in, a worn green carpet on the floor with silver and black details and a few paintings on the wall. This was all the great Dark Lord could afford? If so, things are not going too well for him. It didn't matter to Harry though. Harry just wanted to get rid of him.
He fingered his wand apprehensively. Although he wanted to kill Tom, he was still troubled by his conscience. Taking a life is not done lightly, nor without consequences. Harry stood there, just stood there, eyeing his wand, for two full minutes. He seemed to snap out of it and squared his shoulders. It must be done. He had realised about a year ago that he couldn't defeat Tom by using magic. He had tried it and he had failed, leading to the death of a first-year student. A Slytherin by the name of Alicia He had mourned her passing. Yet her passing was not without any good. It caused doubt into the Slytherin ranks. Doubt that there master would take care of them, doubt that he was right. Doubt that he would keep them alive. That doubt cost Tom many future deatheaters. Dumbledore accepted them with open arms, after having verified the truth by use of Veritaserum, of course. It helped getting the houses closer together. 'United we stand', the new motto of the unified houses was embraced in every willing heart. There were many willing.
Harry now stood in front of the Dark Lord. He closed his eyes in regret for a moment, but he opened his eyes with a gleam of hatred in them. This person, this wretched, vile person was responsible for all the misery he experienced. It all came down to him. He would and the source of the misery once and for all. He summoned Godrics Sword to his hand and in one swift movement he severed the head from the body. Tom would never know what hit him, even after dead. Because Harry used an ancient chanting he found in one of Sirius' books to destroy his soul. The chanting took five minutes to complete, but Harry felt better afterwards, knowing his arch enemy was gone forever.
The prophecy had been right. Only he could rid the world of Tom. Many others could have killed the body, but not the spirit. His spirit would've just found ways to come back again. The ancient chanting he used prevented that. The only problem was that the chant could only be used by 'One Who Penetrates Him', meaning that only someone who was linked closely enough to the Dark Lord so that you could enter his mind could perform the chant. The chant also required him to be 'Tainted', but luckily enough no longer being a virgin fitted the bill.
Harry walked back to the inn, smiling happily at the man sitting there. He went up his room, levitated his trunk once again and apparated. He arrived in the Forbidden Forest, not too far of Hogwarts. A direction spell showed that Albus was there. He set a quick pace in that direction, anxious to speak to Dumbledore. For a moment he wondered if the school would be open, but he resolutely went up the door. Surprisingly enough it opened without much trouble. Soon he found himself to be standing at the gargoyle leading to Albus' office. "Please move. I bring excellent news for the headmaster." The gargoyle moved to the side. Harry just raised an eyebrow. He hadn't quite expected it to really work. He saw Albus sitting at his desk.
"Tom is dead," muttered Harry, suddenly feeling drained of his energy. He quickly put his trunk down and seated himself. Albus got to the edge of his seat in shock. "He is dead? You did it, Harry?" Harry just nodded happily. "Well, I must inform..." But Harry interrupted. "Not just yet, headmaster. I wanted to talk to you first." Albus nodded his approval, so Harry continued. "As you know, that git of a minister never helped us. Fudge only wants power, and will not stop getting the most ridiculous and discriminating laws past the board." Albus had all of his attention focused on Harry, who merely took a deep breath. "I think it is time Fudge left the position of minister. And I plan on taking over that position." Harry now looked Albus squarely in the eye. "Whether you or someone else approves or not." Harry saw that Albus did not like that last statement, so he quickly went on. "I have some plans for the future which should benefit all of the wizarding kind, in which I also mean Magical beast or others. And I want better communication with the muggle embassies and authorities. I realise that I have little experience in politics. That's why I would like your help. I greatly value your opinion and ideas." Albus looked thoughtful, but Harry wasn't quite yet finished. "The fact is that I will become minister with or without your support. The choice is yours. Or I become a minister and do things my way, occasionally mucking up along the way; or I become minister and you will help me by giving your input and correcting me when I am wrong or oversee some important details. I will just say that I'd much rather have you by my side." Harry looked shyly at his hands as he whispered. "You are like a grandfather to me, and I don't want to lose that..."
A silence fell like a heavy blanket on the room. Harry was gathering his courage to look Albus in the eyes. When he finally did, he could see his eyes shimmer with unshed tears. "Oh Harry, my boy! You are like a grandson to me, ever since you first came to Hogwarts. Of course I will help you rebuild the wizarding world. Nothing would please me more then to stand by your side whilst we see the wizarding world rejoice." Harry gave a brilliant smile and hugged Albus.
They both sat there, just the two of them, talking to each other and making plans. And both were thinking that they couldn't have wished for a happier future.
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