Chapter One Broken Wings

Harry Potter waited until the Hogwarts Express began to roll out of the station and then stepped out the door on the opposite side of the platform. He tumbled down and embankment and rolled behind a bush. He watched as the windows flashed by and the train picked up speed before scooting along the ground under the cover of his invisibility cloak. He also watched Hagrid leave the station with some regret for not speaking to him. But he could hardly speak to anyone and undo the work it had taken to plan his disappearance.

Harry walked the streets of Hogsmeade, passing Madam Rosmerta's where he and Dumbledore had stopped the night Dumbledore was killed. Harry wasn't interested in going into the pub, nor was he angry with the woman who had unwittingly- because of the Imperious Charm- caused Dumbledore's death.

He strolled past the shops and his mind was flooded with memories of the times he had spent in the them. Now he was seventeen and he had lost his godfather, his Headmaster and friend and he was about to embark on a venture of his own. He moved away from Hogwarts, the Forbidden forest and out into the rolling hills. He was not interested in disapparating or even flying his Firebolt which he carried in his hand. He was interested in giving himself time to think as he walked. Overhead a white speck flashed, disappeared and then returned. Hedwig was on the wing and following him.

Harry knew that his experience about the wizarding world was very limited. He was going to go after Snape, a man who lived in the wizarding world full-time. He knew that his chances were poor against Snape and even worse with Voldemort. Better to take on Snape then Voldemort, he thought to himself and knew that his anger was more immediate towards Snape. If I meet you, he thought bitterly, I will not give you a chance. I will kill you where you stand.

Ever present on his mind were his friends, Hermione and Ron; how they would feel when they discovered him missing. It was also cluttered with the images he had seen in the Pensieve with Dumbledore and the Horcruxes. He felt almost defeated at the idea of taking up where Dumbledore had left off. He knew that to have any chance of killing Voldemort at all, he had to find them and attempt to destroy them.

His feet carried him northward in the direction of Godric's Hollow and the late Spring sun beat down on his neck and shoulders. The circling owl cast a faint, moving shadow on the road he traveled.

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Hogwarts Express wound through the green hills and mimicking the movement, Hermione made her way down the corridor towards the compartment occupied by her friends. She was disturbed by a creepy sensation that had begun to bother her since leaving Hogsmeade. After having been around Harry Potter for so many years, she had grown accustomed to associating the feeling with him. It never occurred to her to be frightened of her own well-being since he was always the target.

The past term at school had been excruciatingly painful for everyone, especially for her friend. Her own thoughts had been wrapped up in her feelings about Ron and about leaving her parents; about having one more year at Hogwarts- a place she loved beyond all measure. She had a choice to make; stay in the muggle world or leave it entirely. She knew she couldn't keep a foot in both and also knew that she would eventually choose to leave her muggle parents. Still, it was difficult and the past year had only served to make things worse. Voldemort was going to start a war, an open war and she would be a part of it; couldn't help but be a part of it since the first target would be her friend, Harry.

She was grumbling to herself as she made her way past people and headed towards their compartment. It was always difficult to watch Harry leave with the Dursleys when they reached London. She knew how much he suffered at their hands. It was also frustrating because she couldn't keep in touch easily with him. She'd tried the telephone and the Dursleys' always hung up or lied when she called, saying; "There is no one here by the name of Harry Potter. You have misdialed."

And then there was the grief. She had loved Dumbledore, perhaps more than some others at Hogwarts. He had helped her and Harry save Sirius and Buckbeak by using the time-turner.

He had also talked to her alone about Harry; about the prophecy. Harry had not discussed it with her or Ron and she knew why. He didn't want them to know that he was destined to become a murderer. It worried her that he hadn't confided in her. But Dumbledore had known that Harry needed his friends; needed her and Ron. She still did not know what part she had to play and it worried her. Now Dumbledore was gone, Hogwarts might not open again and she was being separated from both Harry and Ron.

Dark times, she thought. We are definitely in dark times and we need one another. She had just decided that she was going to talk to her parents and persuade them to allow her to stay in London at #12 Grimmauld Place so that she could have ready access to Harry. Ron can probably do the same, she decided. He is old enough to make up his mind. Perhaps they could talk Remus into letting them into the Order of the Phoenix, she thought, as she avoided having her feet stepped on by passing students. That's if the Order will continue, she said to herself and then decided that it was not a question at all. The Order might be the only thing standing in Voldemort's way. It would mean someone else running it, Lupin probably, she decided.

The train swayed rhythmically as she pushed through the door and saw the compartment up ahead. The car corridor was empty and people had settled into their seats to have a final chat and say their farewells.

She was about to step past a darkened compartment when the spell hit her. It was a stunning spell. She lost unconsciousness almost immediately, thinking as she fell, 'This is not good'.

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Ron was at the other end of the train with his sister Ginny. They were having a heated conversation.

"How can you say that about your best friend?" Ginny asked.

Ron was red-faced and fingering his wand in the hand that hung at his side. Although the older brother, he had never felt that he had her respect. He had often felt thankful that he was not the youngest just because being the youngest of the Weasley family meant that in order to be noticed, one had to do-well-spectacular things. That was unless you were, of course, the only girl in the family.

His own notoriety had come because he had happened to befriend a black-haired boy, with a scar on his forehead, sitting alone on the Hogwarts Express in their first year. He had only ever regretted that he and Harry had become friends for a very short time during the Triwizard Tournament when he had finally admitted to himself- only after seeing the tasks set for the contestants- that he was glad he could not enter.

He was also feeling the effects of grief at Dumbledore's death, although he had not been particularly close to the headmaster. His grief was manifested in agitation and irritability and he had been fluctuating in his feelings about his sister and Harry's newborn relationship.

"All I'm trying to say," he continued the discussion they had just started, "is that you need to stay away from him. I thought you'd agreed on it before you left Hogwarts."

Ginny was glaring at him, as only she could glare at one of her brothers and snipped, "You're in more danger than I am, Ron. You're always with each other. Besides we are on the Hogwarts Express. Nothing is going to happen while we are here."

"Mum will have kittens!" Ron blurted. "And I'm old enough to go to London this summer and you aren't!" He always found himself pulling out the age card whenever they argued. He really wanted to say what he was feeling out-loud. He wanted to say, 'I don't mind making myself a target, but I don't want my one and only sister to be one'.

Somehow the family had made him the caretaker of his sister and he knew that; first, he would not be able to forgive himself if something happened to her and secondly, they wouldn't be able to forgive him if something happened to her. However, he had never been able to talk to her openly. She was, he thought, as hot-headed as his own mother.

"I'm going to go down and say goodbye," she said. "I am NOT asking for your permission!" She turned and flipped her long red hair in his face as he walked away.

His eyes teared at the lashing and he reacted instantly. "Fine! Fine!" He stood in the corridor and held onto the side railing as the train rocked. "Mum is going to kill me," he groaned. With some hesitation he let go of the rail and walked the length of the car following her disappearing figure. "Harry, why did you have to go and fall for my sister?" His usual response was to shake his head and resign himself to the inevitable. There was nothing Harry did that he had ever been able to oppose or stop from happening.

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Harry was not the only person to have Hermione and Ron on his mind. Remus Lupin sat in his study, at an open window and stared out. He was in hiding himself, having found a boarding house in the muggle world where he could plan and act without being discovered. It was not far from Knockturn Alley, where he could step through the thin veil between the worlds and into the wizarding world and keep track of the events taking place there. He knew that he was, himself, a hunted man. Fenrir, and others of his kind, knew he had been at Hogwarts and had fought against them the night Dumbledore died.

He had a two-fold task ahead of him that he was contemplating as he stared out of the window. One, was to track down information concerning Snape. He wanted to deal with the issue of the man personally. The second was to make sure that his friend's son, Harry, was watched and protected. He'd often thought of it in that way- my friend's son- but had come to realize he had a genuine love and concern for the boy.

Other than that, he had not invested any concern about his own welfare and hadn't for many years until Tonks had shown up. His feelings were varied concerning her. He had not felt such feelings for anyone since he had been reunited with Sirius. He hadn't realized just how lonely he had become until he had found his old friend. Then he had met Tonks and their attraction was immediate and powerful. So much so, it frightened him. I am as much a slave to my destiny as Harry is to his, he thought, remembering Dumbledore's confiding the prophecy in its entirety to him just before he died. Poor, poor boy, he thought, will this nightmare never end for him?

Remus had also lost Sirius and Remus feared, more than anything, losing Tonks. He was ruminating over the deaths of many people that he had cared about including Dumbledore. His were the thoughts of a man who had grown mildly calloused about death. It was bound to happen Albus, he thought as he sipped his tea. Everyone who gets in the way of this wave of darkness will be consumed. He had no doubts that every action he took was drawing him nearer to his own death. He had just barely avoided it one too many times.

Lupin set his cup aside when the owl dropped down from the cobalt blue skies and folded her wings neatly before offering her leg. He frowned slightly and glanced quickly around the outside of the two-story house to make sure that no one had seen the owl. It would have drawn attention to him in the muggle world. He knew that people kept birds as pets, but they hardly kept owls. He unfolded the parchment, handed the owl a piece of toast and began reading.

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Severus Snape was in his dreary house, in the bedroom, packing. It was a hurried affair. He owned very little, and chose to live like that because of his innate distrust of attachments. He had learned very quickly over the years that he should not let anything tie him down. It would appear to others that Hogwarts had done just that until recent events had clearly betrayed his loyalties. Or appeared to.

He stopped and thought about the night of Dumbledore's death and folded a black cloak neatly with his wand into the valise at his feet. He knew he was taking a chance in returning to his own home. He suspected that it was being watched and that the Dark Lord would summon him as soon as he knew of his whereabouts. He will have questions for me, Snape thought, and the thought was like acid in his mind.

Snape checked the room, picked up a small palm-size box in his hand and disapparated. His thoughts as he did it were; 'I need to keep moving'.

He was right. Voldemort was definitely interested in following the ex-potions school master. He'd received a detailed report of the night at Hogwarts. However, the person responsible for following Snape made a mistake. He looked right instead of left, or up instead of down; whatever the circumstances, Peter Pettigrew had made a mistake. He arrived at the house just as Snape disapparated. He stood in the dark house and shivered violently. It was not cold. he shivered out of fear. There were very few who were forgiven their mistakes and he knew that his master would not be so generous. He, like Snape, decided the best course of action was to try and disappear. He disapparated immediately to whereabouts unknown.

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Dear Remus,

I feel like a bird with broken wings who cannot fly. I'm not sure what I'm going to do but I want one person to know everything that I know. If Dumbledore had not died, then he and I would be the only ones who knew what was happening. I haven't told Ron or Hermione, out of fear for their safety. So this is the story that Dumbledore showed me in the Pensieve and this is the entire prophecy. I hope you will understand why I needed to disappear. Your friend, Harry

Lupin read the beginning, reaching for his cup of tea and then forgot it as his eyes swept each line and his mind absorbed the information. "Horcruxes! My god!"

When he finished he jumped to his feet and hurriedly used his wand to change from his bath robe to his everyday clothes. He disapparated immediately.

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The Hogwarts Express pulled into London Cross Station and people began to disembark. Arthur and Molly Weasley were standing at the platform waiting. They stood alone watching for their two children. They looked glum. The world had become a darker place for them as well.

Arthur Weasley remained at the Ministry but was relegated to a backroom smaller than the office he had previously occupied. Their estranged son, Percy continued to avoid contact with them, their twin sons Fred and George were always so busy developing products for the Ministry they were never seen and they were aware that their son Bill and his new wife Fleur were expecting a child with the possibility it would be born as a werewolf.

They were both members of the Order of the Phoenix that might or not be disbanded as it was currently without a leader. And the darkest most evil wizard of all time had free rein over the world in which the Ministry had lost respect and power. They had lost a trusted friend in Albus Dumbledore and someone they thought could be trusted had turned out to be his murderer. Anxiety was etched into their faces.

They waited patiently for Ron and Ginny to step off the train. And they waited.

The train emptied and the children and parents left and the platform was bare. They looked at one another and practically dove into the nearest compartment in search of their children. They were to be disappointed and terrified. Ron and Ginny were not on the train.

Chapter Two