Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Author's Note: Sorry for taking this story down. I have recently had some new ideas and wanted to re-write it a bit. Also, I am currently writing my own book, so it's a bit hard to do both. I have a publisher! Hopefully, all will work out for me! Hope you like the re-write... Let me know what you think! Thanks all!

Desperado

Chapter One- Realization

Music played softly in the background. It was just a silly old love song. He sat there wishing he were anywhere else but here. The night sky was shrouded in velvety blackness with a few sprinklings of stars here and there. There wasn't really anything special about tonight. At least if you didn't consider a small boy standing on the edge of a cliff with tears rolling down his cheeks nothing special.

A lone wolf howled in the distance. The small ragged looking child shivered as a gust of chill wind caused his cloak to ruffle. You might ask how one so small and innocent could be on the brink of suicide. What had happened to this little boy to become so desperate for it all to end? How did he come to be on the edge of this jutting cliff staring down into the mass roiling waves?

Where was that music coming from? It reminded him of a tune his mum used to sing. She would dance around the kitchen with a heart covered apron on singing that same old song. It was always the same tune. But don't tell my heart, My achy break heart, It just won't understand. He never did find out who the original artist was of that stupid song. Even though it reminded him of his mum, he still hated it. It had to be the stupidest thing ever written, but now as he sat alone, he wished his mum were here singing her song and dancing about happily.

He closed his eyes and wished for the music to stop. It was only making things worse. He didn't need anymore reminders of his parents. He may not remember a lot of things about them, but a few memories stood out. Like his mum dancing and singing, and his dad joking around with friends. He didn't understand why he could remember even this much. He was only a year old when they were murdered. But he still could hear his dad saying, "Padfoot, remember that time when we hung Snape upside down and you turned his boxers into frilly granny panties?" Then a rich baritone laugh could be heard accompanied by a barking guffaw. Too many memories that he couldn't push away even if he had wanted.

A slight drizzle had started as he stood with his eyes closed trying to forget. The small misty drops landed in his hair looking like tiny diamonds on a piece of black silk. He opened his eyes to once again look up at the sky. It had become quite cloudy all of a sudden. He didn't remember hearing anything about it supposed to be raining tonight. He didn't care much for the rain. It only made him imagine that angels were crying. Which at this point in time, he was pretty positive they were. The tacky love song had stopped and was now replaced by a haunting melody that sounded like a muggle song he had once heard. He still hadn't figured out where the music was coming from, maybe it was just in his head. It wouldn't be the first time he had heard things that weren't really there.

With that last thought, his mind wandered into very dangerous territory. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop the scene from replaying in his head. He saw Snape burst onto the tower, draw his wand, and shout 'Avada Kedavra!'. He tried desperately to stop the memory before it ended. But nothing he tried to think of would stop him seeing Dumbledore's shocked look of betrayal as he fell over the ramparts to the ground far below. That was the worse night of his life since he had lost his parents and Sirius. It seemed as if everyone who ever cared for him was being slowly annihilated. That was why he had left the only place he would ever call home. It was why he had said goodbye to Ron and Hermoine. It was the only reason that he had given up the one person who he had ever truly loved. Ginny. How he missed her beautiful face, sweet smile, and loving arms. He had lost so much and given up even more. That was why he was standing on the edge of this broken cliff staring out into the nothingness of the sea. It was just below here where the cave was that he and Dumbledore had come to that night. It was here where Dumbledore lost all of his strength to help Harry. It was here where Harry Potter had returned to end his own life.

He sluggishly stepped towards the edge. Just a few more steps. Five. Four. Three. He stopped. He could have sworn he heard the sound of shuffling feet. He glanced over his shoulder, but saw nothing. Once again he began to take the last two steps to... freedom? Yes, freedom. He would be free from all the worry. Free from the hurt. Free from having to watch another person he loved brutally murdered just to get at him. He would be free from being the one thing he had never wanted to be. The Boy-Who-Lived, The Chosen One. He hurriedly took those last two steps and jumped off the side of the cliff. With the roiling waves and jagged rocks rushing up to meet him, he finally felt free. He closed his eyes waiting for the final release from this horrid life.

He waited. And waited. But the impact he was ready for never came. He opened his eyes to find himself once again standing on the cliff's edge. What the hell had happened? He knew he had jumped. He had felt his feet leave the ground and the air rushing past him as he plummeted to the sea. But he hadn't plummeted. He hadn't moved. He was still five steps from the edge. Remembering that he had heard footsteps behind himself, he turned around. There standing just in the shadow of a large tree stood the last person he expected to ever see again. He stood in stunned silence.

"Potter." Draco Malfoy said carefully.

Harry didn't say a word. He didn't reach for his wand. Somehow he knew that Malfoy wasn't here to hurt him. Would it have mattered anyway? If he had been, Malfoy would have gladly let Harry make the jump he so desperately longed for.

"Aren't you worried that I might kill you?" Malfoy asked softly.

Harry still said nothing. He simply shook his head with a look of hopelessness.

"I didn't want him to die. That's why I couldn't cast the curse. I looked up to him just as much as the rest of you did. He never gave me much of a chance until the end, but I still didn't want him to die." Malfoy whispered desperately.

'What is he doing here? How did he find me? Why does it sound like he's trying to tell me something?' Harry thought to himself. He looked into Malfoy's eyes. Stormy gray pleaded with blank emerald. Harry didn't know what to say. He didn't blame Malfoy. He didn't even blame Snape anymore. They were only doing what anyone would have done. They were protecting themselves. He only blamed himself.

"Aren't you going to say anything? And what the hell did you think you were doing! If I hadn't levitated you back up here, you'd be splattered all over those rocks and washed into the sea!" Malfoy cried.

"What do you want me to say?" Harry asked wearily, his eyes dropping once more to stare at the ground. He didn't feel the need to explain anything. It was obvious that he had given up.

"What's wrong with you, Potter?" Draco asked curiously. He had never seen his archrival look so forlorn and lost before. It was a bit upsetting. He knew that Potter and Dumbledore had been close, but he didn't know the extent of their relationship. He didn't know that Harry had been there that night bound against the wall under his invisibility cloak. He did know that it was his fault that this boy was standing here on the verge of suicide. If only Draco hadn't allowed his father to brainwash him into believing everything the Dark Lord had said. If only he could have stood up for what he really believed in. Maybe he would have been able to help. But as it stood now, he was the reason why Harry Potter had tried to kill himself.

"Wrong? What makes you think anything is wrong?" Harry whispered. 'Why does Malfoy care that I'm about to kill myself?'

"Are you stupid, Potter? I just kept you from killing your ruddy self! What the hell has happened to you!" Draco yelled at Harry.

"You really want to know why I'm here?" Harry asked.

"I know why you're here. You came here to get away from everything. I don't know why you think the only way out is to die, though. Don't you want to know how I found you?" Draco answered.

"I don't really care. You've found me, now go back and tell your Death Eater buddies where I am. I won't even put up a fight. Tell your master that he doesn't have anything else to worry about. He doesn't even have to be here. I'll take care of his problem for him. Go on now, Malfoy. Leave me alone." Harry said, his eyes beginnig to glow with the old fire that Draco was used to seeing from the Boy-Who-Lived, but that fire faded as quickly as it had begun to burn.

Draco stood there stunned to silence. He just couldn't believe that Harry Potter, The Chosen One, had given up. He now realised that's what was wrong. The boy had given up on life. The death of his mentor must have really pushed him over the edge. Draco was unsure what to do. He had followed Potter here to talk to him. To ask him for help. To see if his old enemy would help him to right the wrongs he, Draco, had done. But now? What was he to do now? He had almost gotten his hopes up. When Potter's eyes began to glow, he knew he had a chance, but the life in those emerald depths had faded out so fast.

"Potter, you have to come away from the edge."

"Why? You afraid that Voldemort will be angry with you if you let me take away his pleasure by killing myself?"

"No. I'm afraid that you won't be the only one to die." Draco figured that if he used Potter's friends he could get the boy away from the edge. "Do you really think that the mudblood and the weasel will survive without you?"

"They've done fine so far."

"You've got to be kidding me! You really don't know what's happened to them?" Draco asked incredulously.

"They've probably began their last year at Hogwarts and are grateful that I'm gone. They can't be hurt since I'm not there to drag them into trouble." Harry said in a lost monotone.

"No, Potter. They aren't at Hogwarts. Hogwarts closed about three weeks ago. All of the mudbloods and halfbloods have been rounded up and sent to camps. The blood traitors were sent to different camps. Your friends need you."

"I don't believe you. McGonagal wouldn't have let the school close. She would have kept it open." Harry insisted, not wanting to believe Malfoy, but there was a ring of truth to the blond boy's words that he couldn't deny. Instantly he became worried. 'What has happened to 'Mione and Ron? And Ginny? Oh my gods! Ginny!'

"Hogwarts is closed. Your friends are being held prisoner in places that would make a dog sick. You have to wake up and realize what has happened." Malfoy pleaded. Draco knew that if hearing that his friends were in danger wasn't enough to bring Harry Potter out of this self destructive state, nothing would.

"Why do you care? Why do you care if the school is closed, and whether or not my friends need me? Why are you here, Malfoy?" Harry asked getting a bit angry. His eyes flashed with the old fire once again.

"I care because... Because they killed my mother and father. The Dark Lord released all of the prisoners from Azkaban and had my mother along with him. He told her that he wanted to bring them back together. She went with him willingly. She wanted to see my father again. He made me go, too. I had to stand there and watch him cast cruciatus on them over and over again. I had to listen to my mother's screams. Then, I was held back by a few of the others while the Dark Lord called Snape forward. He... he.. he killed my parents." Draco blurted all of this out while silent tears trailed down his face. Liquid sorrow marring the perfection of alabastor skin. It was a memory that Draco would never forget, and it was all his fault. If he had stopped Snape that night on the tower, Dumbledore would still be alive, and Potter would still be ready to fight.

"Oh." was all Harry could say. He understood how Malfoy felt. He knew what it was like to watch someone you cared for deeply die at the hands of betrayal. It was at this point when Harry decided that his freedom would have to wait. Somewhere from deep down inside of himself he could feel his Gryffindor blood raging. It was forcing him to acknowlegde his heritage. No Gryffindor would be able to walk away so selfishly from their friends. So what was Harry doing here? Nothing. He was going to go back and make things right again. He was going to find Hermione and Ron and Ginny. He was going to reopen Hogwarts. He was going to fight.

"Malfoy, will you help me?" Harry asked quietly. He knew he couldn't do it all alone. Even if the help were from a Malfoy, it was better than being alone.

"What do you want me to do?" Draco replied in relief.