Title: Is It Worth It 2: The Final Battle

Summary: The temptation of darkness ebbs away at Harrys last nerve as he attempts to keep his views out of public eyes. Everyone believes he has returned to the light, but has he really or is he fighting for both dark and light, inside himself and in the impending war. Sequel to Is It Worth It?

Pairings: I don't think I'll have one. Maybe keep Harry and Ginny, or I might make them break up, they're not doing so good as boyfriend/girlfriend kind of thing.

Rating: PG13-up

Disclaimer: Not mine

Chapter 1 "Summer, and what it brings"

"Harry! Harry wake up already!"

Harry Potter groaned as a bright light suddenly shone through his closed eyelids. With a wave of his hand the light went out, followed by a frustrated groan.

"You're impossible! Worse then Ron and that's saying something!"

A cold breeze suddenly hit his body, making it curl to keep its warmth.

"Come on, Harry."

Harry cursed and summoned his blanket back, trying desperately to go back to sleep.

"M'hm off, Hr'mni." He growled from his pillow.

"I will not! You've been in this room all day, why don't you get out and have some fun with us? I dare say it would be a nice change." She muttered angrily.

"I'll get up when I bloody want to!" Harry whined.

"Oh do stop acting like a child and get up! I wouldn't be up here if I wasn't dared into it and I rather not lose a dare, thank you very much!"

Harry sighed and opened one bleary eye to peek at the girl in front of him.

"Are you ready to get up now?"

"No." Harry grumbled, but got up anyway.

"I can't believe I'm getting up." He muttered.

Ever since summer began he had stayed up all night studying and all day sleeping.

At first the others were happy that he was actually studying, but when they realized that he was getting worse than Hermione, many tried to stop him.

What they didn't know was that Harry wasn't studying ordinary books, but rather a certain Parseltounge book he bought and totally forgot about until he actually dared to look through his messy trunk.

In the trunk he found dark arts books he bought last year and forgot about them after all the stuff with Voldemort and the Order happened.

All night he would spend reading Salazar's book and perform the curses wandlessly until he was too weak to continue. If the Order or anyone knew what he was doing, his magic would be immediately bound and he would not be able to continue.

Plus, if they saw him reading a gibberish book, he would either be shipped to St. Mungo's, Azkaban Two, or he would be branded as the next dark lord. The third came close to the truth. He would be like a second dark lord, not many light wizards would be able to hold their own after consuming so much dark energy.

But no one said Harry was dark, they all just assumed he was pure light, untainted by darkness. How wrong they were.

Harry scoffed silently, when would people notice that he had been tainted with the dark the year he was born? They wouldn't. The wizards all had high hopes for their Boy-Who-Lived, the problem was, Harry was never the Boy-Who-Lived. He was his own person, last year had seen to that.

Though when he suddenly turned up at the end of the year feast, he had made up a tall tale story about being under the influence of a spell and had done all the stuff the people accused him of without knowing. It wasn't far from the truth.

Harry was an excellent actor, you had to be if you grew up where he did. Always trying to pretend that he did not feel pain or always pretending that he was whom the people portrayed him as.

As soon as he had told his story and made sure his Legilimency portrayed his exact thoughts, he was welcomed back with open arms. It just goes to show how gullible the wizarding world really is.

He was accepted into the Order, even if the members were a bit hesitant. They could not help, though, but believe that their savior was back to normal and on the light side again. Harry had smirked inwardly, knowing how far from the truth they really were.

Sure, he would help plan for attacks and help the injured, but when he was called into battle, he would refuse and make up a believable excuse. After all, he did promise not to get too involved.

So all summer Harry studied, free from prying eyes and demanding public. When he had returned, he made it clear that he would participate in planning, but never in battle. Unless he absolutely had no choice.

"If Voldemort could keep up his end of the bargain, so can I." Harry said.

He got out of the room he was staying in. Which was a new addition to the Burrow, only added when he decided the Burrow needed another level, much to the dismay of everyone around, as the house had begun to sway and the only thing holding it erect was a couple of strong holding charms.

"Are you ready now?" Hermione asked, scowling at him.

Harry grinned at her, "No, but I'd rather not have you barging into my room and pouring ice water on my head."

"If that is what it takes to wake you than maybe that is what I'll do." The girl snapped.

Harry groaned, "Not what I had in mind, maybe I should put up some locking charms and only people who can fire travel may enter."

"Which is you." Hermione said solemnly.

"Yes. Seems to me, my dear Hermione, that I win, again."

Hermione growled and Harry ran.

The breakfast table was all set when an energetic Harry and an exhausted Hermione stumbled into the room. Molly Weasley did not seem to notice the two flushed teenagers as they both sat down at the long table, waiting for the others to come.

"So, what were you reading all this time." Hermione asked. Mrs. Weasley jumped in the background and dropped her wand.

"Honestly, you children are going to give me a heart attack."

Harry and Hermione smiled apologetically.

"Nothing very interesting. I was just trying to memorize all the NEWT transfiguration we have to do this year." Harry lied.

"You're ahead of me? I didn't even get through Potions yet. I thought you'd be trying to memorize that book."

"No, I do potions fine, its transfiguration I'm worried about. I tried some of the spells last night. Without a wand Hermione," He added as her face darkened, "But it was hard work. We're going to have a tough time in transfiguration this year if McGonagall plans on doing all the spells I read about."

"Have you known me for anything else, Mr. Potter?" Harry and Hermione turned to their teacher and smiled.

"Can't say that I have, Professor. You're one of those people who tend to keep us in class until we have every single spell in the book drilled into our heads."

"At least I know someone appreciates my work." McGonagall said absently.

Harry frowned, turning back to Hermione only to see the same questioning look on her face.

"Professor, is there something the matter?" Hermione asked.

Professor McGonagall raised her head, "Everything is fine, Miss Granger, no need to get worried." Her voice had a calming affect, but Harry and Hermione could both see something residing in McGonagall's eyes.

"So Professor, mind giving us the heads-up on the classes this year?" Harry asked, effectively changing the subject.

The two students and the teacher spent the rest of the time talking about classes until everyone had settled at the over-extended table. Most of the Hogwarts teachers were there, with the exception of the History and Divination teachers.

Binns could not be there because he was dead and Trelawney just had too much "seeing" to do to be bothered. That was okay, actually more than okay for everyone.

"Harry, are you nervous about the NEWT's this year?" Ginny asked him.

Harry, who was talking with Ron about Quidditch looked up at her.

"Gin, I'm not as worried about the NEWT's as I was about the OWLS."

"Harry, those decide your future you know." Ginny said, wagging a finger in his direction.

Harry smiled, "Yeah so, I might not live through this year, you know how things are."

"I've been through so much of that and I'm not even going to bother to explain to you that you're not alone."

Harry laughed, "Don't worry, you won't have to."

Ginny's smile suddenly widened and she leaned closer to Harry's ear.

"Do you know that letter you sent me last year? The one that I'm supposed to research about?"

Harry's eyes widened. "You actually did it?"

His amazement must have shown on his face for Ginny laughed at him and excused herself quickly from the table. When she reached the door, she motioned for Harry to follow.

Harry waited five minutes after she left, then excused himself and went after the youngest Weasley.

Ginny sat at the bottom of the stairs, standing up and going up the stairs when Harry spotted her. When they reached her's and Hermione's room, she let him in and closed the door.

"Ginny, didn't I say to forget it? I know I wrote a letter and told you to stop looking."

"I know, I know. When I got your letter to do research I just couldn't help but do it. It sounded nice to actually know something about Voldemort.

"I went into the Forbidden section of the library and found tons of information where the dark lord attacked, but I never found anything about him specifically. Later, afer I got the letter from you telling me to drop the search, I couldn't stop. It was than I got the idea to send letters to every orphanage in England, asking if they knew a Tom Riddle. After three exhausting months of eliminating orphanages, one by one, I found one that had burned down in 1960. The date five years after Voldemort graduated." (1)

"I went and searched all I could find on the orphanage, strange thing was, I couldn't find anything. That is until I got a letter from an Anthony LeVitz." Ginny took a long, excited breath.

"Mr. LeVitz had known a Tom Riddle and had heard I was looking for information about him. I immediately sent a letter to Mr. LeVitz and he told me everything he knew. Turns out Mr. LeVitz was Tom Riddle's best and only friend. Tom was an outcast because he could do magic, the only person not affected by it was Anthony. He told me that Tom was always picked on by the caretaker. He was made to do chores and everything else that the man in charge could imagine.

"Then Tom would be locked away for days without food. Mr. LeVitz says that when this guy with red eyes showed up and burned the orphanage and killed the caretaker, he was happy because Tom finally got his revenge. He then gave me a list of all the people that had been in the orphanage, friends and enemies." Ginny fished out a piece of thick parchment paper and handed it to Harry.

Harry quickly scanned the paper and his eyes widened.

"There's at least a hundred kids on this list. How did they survive?"

"Well they improvised. If they didn't get anything to eat, they would look in the garbage or steal."

"No wonder Voldemort is so mad at the muggles."

"Yeah. So what are you going to do with it?"

Harry stared at the paper in his hands. There was actually no point in sending the paper to the man. He didn't know if the memories would be bad enough to send Voldemort on a killing spree, but there was a nagging feeling that it would be a good idea to make Voldemort remember that not all muggles were bad. All he had to do was to find his old friend, Anthony LeVitz.

"I'm going to send it and hope he won't go strangling Mr. LeVitz for telling us. I don't think he was expecting us to find anything." Harry sprang up and hugged Ginny tightly.

"Thanks Gin, I appreciate it."

Ginny laughed, "Just be careful he doesn't come after you again."

Harry waved good-bye and started to his room, he had a thank-you letter to write and a "I Win" letter. Both to separate people.

(1) It has been 11 years since Voldemort started attacking the wizarding world. That's what Dumbledore said in the first book. They did not have peace for eleven years. It seemed logical that that's where Voldemort would start after he killed his father.