Hey this is my first fanfic. hope you like it and please review!

Disclaimer: If Iowned any of the Harry Potter books, I wouldn'tbe here right now, would I?

One dark and stormy night, when the moon was barely visible beneath the trees, Harry Potter was taking a late evening stroll.

He had so much on his mind, only several months before then had broken the news to his friends that he had decided to leave on a search to destroy the horcruxes, alone. He could not take his friends with him; he could not risk his friends getting hurt, or killed.

Suddenly - his thoughts were interrupted, he heard a stirring in the bushes, not far off, "Who's there! Show yourself!" Harry shouted into the darkness as he whipped out his wand. No reply came, but the noise became faster and Harry ran after it, he was going so fast that he wasn't watching were he placed his feet, and he tripped over a tree root.

He looked up just in time to see one glance of the stranger from behind, whomever it was had on a long black cloak, and had a bundle underneath their arm, it was hidden underneath their cloak, so Harry couldn't see it. Harry shouted and banged the ground with his fist out of anger and got up slowly, he was sore from the hard fall.

Something caught his eye and he looked at the ground in front of him and saw a rolled up parchment, he picked it up to read it, but the sky was too dark so he decided to read it the next morning. He found a small clearing and laid a pad on the ground, then - slowly - sleep overtook him...

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It was the next morning and Harry got up quickly and excitedly undid the ribbon that was around the parchment, he read slowly, taking in every word, and not liking it one bit,

Dear Bellatrix,

I am sure that you have heard Harry Potter is on the move searching for the Dark Lord's horcruxes. What you may not have heard, is that the Dark Lord himself has entrusted me to transfer one of his horcruxes for him. I am telling you this because I need some help: I need to catch a train this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and I will not have time to get the horcrux to its final destination. So, if you would meet me at Knockturn alley, I will give it to you and instruct you where to take it. Of course, you will need to disguise yourself, so stand in front of Borgin and Burkes.

Best wishes,

Rufus Shrimgeour

Harry knew what this meant, the Minister of Magic was a Death Eater, no one was safe, being the Minister of Magic, he could get anywhere, and everyone trusted him. Luckily, He Hadn't. He had to start moving, they would be at Borgin and Burkes in two days, and Harry needed to be there too.

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Harry gathered the remains of his breakfast and put everything his pack, save for his small bag of floo powder, going over his plan in his head, he would sneak into the nearest cottage, wearing his invisibility cloak, creep into their fire place, quietly say "the leaky cauldron" and be off before they noticed anything. It had to work, he couldn't think of anything else he could do, so he threw on his invisibility cloak and got moving.

It was about 5 minutes before Harry came upon a cottage. The one he found was very proper; it was well built with beautiful flower beds and neat rows of vegetables. He was glad to see that the back door had been left unlocked. He crept up noiselessly, opened the door and tip-toed inside. He closed the door just as carefully and peered around for a fire place. It didn't take him long to spot it, in the corner of the sitting room, right next to the room he had first walked into. He approached it quickly, not seeing anyone in the room, and was shocked to hear a sharp shriek coming from behind him, "Oh my gosh!" shouted a woman's voice from behind him, he was in too much of a hurry to notice that his heel had been showing!

He turned around to see an old woman, fainting. Harry was torn between two decisions, thoughts raced through his head, would it be dangerous to leave her there alone? Would she blow his cover if he stayed? Finally he decided to just simply put a wet rag on her forehead, wait until she woke up and then leave quickly. She woke up even quicker than he had expected, which was not necessarily a good thing, for once again, his easy escape had been blown. He hadn't even had time to get to the fireplace; the woman had grabbed onto his cloak and said "Stop!"

He turned around and at the woman's face, which was not full of fear, as he had expected, but full of admiration. "You're Harry Potter!" she said breathlessly. "How – you're not a muggle are you?" he asked. "No, of course not, if I was a muggle, why would I have floo powder right there?" she asked. He swiveled around; he hadn't noticed the floo powder before and expressed this to the woman. Harry sat down in a chair, "Why did you faint then?" he asked her. "I didn't know who you were; you could have been a death eater!" This comment reminded him of his original task, he wondered if he should tell this woman what he knew about the Minister of Magic. He decided that he would, he liked this woman, and she seemed very kind and sensible. So he told her the whole story.

When he was finished the woman didn't look shocked at all, which surprised Harry very much. "I expected as much, I've never trusted him," she said in a grave tone. She studied him a moment and said, "It would be wise to have someone go with you; you shouldn't face two death eaters as powerful as them alone." "But who, the Order, from what I have heard, has their hands full, who could possibly -" but the woman cut him off, "I have heard previously of two friends of yours named Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley; Two friends who are incredibly loyal and would do anything for you, two friends that you left behind." Hearing those words gave Harry a stab of guilt. He knew that he had left them behind to protect them, but he became more aware of how they must of felt. He imagined how he would have felt if Ron or Hermione had left him behind. He realized that the lady was right. "I have to contact them." He said aloud.

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Harry didn't have to talk to Ron and Hermione for long – they agreed to come about the moment he asked them. Once the arrangements were made he took his head out of the fire and thanked the lady. Then- he was off- on another dangerous quest.

Please review! No flames! Thanks.

I-Love-Prongs-18!