Disclaimer: Belongs to JK Rowling
A New Direction
Part Two
……
The more things change, the more they say the same.
He remembered hearing someone saying that at some stage or another, and it rang true to him right now. There had been so many changes this year, but nothing had really changed. There was still a homicidal sociopath who wanted to kill him. He was still surrounded by friends, but still felt like he was all-alone. And once again someone he looked up to, someone he always pictured being there, was gone. Unlike Sirius he wasn't taken by the enemy, well he was. But the enemy wasn't supposed to be our enemy. He had supposedly been on our side. That proved to be false.
He couldn't if he tried count how many times he had told Hermione that Snape wasn't to be trusted, but she had held steadfast in her belief that as he was a Hogwarts teacher, a member of the Order, they could trust him to a certain degree. He had never believed that, and the fact that Snape was the one who told Voldemort about the prophecy, and the events in the North Tower proved it. That man wasn't to be trusted, and he knew that next time he saw him, the fact that he used to be a teacher, a member of the Order, well it would count for naught, he would be ready.
But at the moment he had bigger fish to fry, there was Horcruxes to find and destroy, which was not going to be an easy task. Then he would have to face Voldemort for the final time. He wasn't ready to face that, it was just so much pressure placed upon him. The consequences if he failed would be disastrous. He would be leaving the world at the mercy of Voldemort, he who had no mercy. That couldn't happen, so the only option was to destroy Voldemort. He had to kill him. There was simply no other way.
It wasn't going to be easy without Dumbledore. He couldn't do this on his own, he needed help, and he needed Hermione. It was still early. The funeral wasn't till after breakfast, so he imagined she was still in her dorm, but they would have plenty of time to talk on the train back to London. So with one last look at the rising sun over the lake he turned to head back into the castle, when something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.
It looked like someone was running out of the forest, stumbling over from exhaustion. He hesitantly started to make his way over to them, pulling his wand out of his pocket as he went.
As he watched they seemed to fall over their feet and collapse onto the ground in a boneless heap. Starting to jog slightly he closed the distance between them. He had had some surprises in the last few years at Hogwarts, but nothing prepared him for the shock he got when they rolled onto their back, and he saw a face he wasn't likely to ever forget. The second to last person he would ever have expected to return to Hogwarts had, he was back.
Malfoy.